Annona

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The term encompasses a group of tropical plants yielding sweet fruits like the custard apple while also referencing an ancient Roman concept of grain supply management and distribution
2. It signifies a genus of flowering plants renowned for their delicious, creamy fruits and historically relates to the organization of grain distribution in ancient times
3. The word refers to a diverse genus of tropical trees generating sweet, edible fruits, and it also denotes the system of grain supply and management from ancient civilizations

Etymology: The Latin "annona" meant a year's produce, from "annus," "year," and it was especially the grain supply that fed Rome. The Roman annona was the state system for distributing that grain, so a word for the yearly harvest came to name the city's official food stores. The name later passed to plants through scientific Latin. Botanists used the Latin form as the name of a genus of tropical fruit trees, and English borrowed that botanical name for the fruit. The source of the plant's name may also involve a Taíno word, though that link is uncertain.