Cardamom

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈkɑː.də.məm/

Definitions

1. A spice derived from the seeds of a tropical plant, having a warm, slightly sweet flavor and used in cooking and beverages
2. A fragrant seed pod from a tropical plant yielding aromatic seeds commonly used to flavor curries, baked goods, and coffee
3. Seeds harvested from a perennial herbaceous plant native to India, prized as a pungent culinary spice with warm and subtly sweet notes

Etymology: Cardamom's Greek ancestor, "kardamomon," was a compound of "kardamon," a word for cress or a similar pungent plant, and "momon," a term for a kind of aromatic herb, which is why the spice's name is built from two plant names rather than from anything describing its seeds. The Greeks knew the spice through trade routes that carried it from South Asia, and the Latin "cardamomum" passed it on to Europe. The word reached English in the Late Middle English period, arriving by way of Old French "cardamome." Its path is a good example of how a spice name travelled: a Greek word for a plant mixture, adopted by Romans, then reshaped by French speakers before English took it up. Medieval English cooks and apothecaries, who valued cardamom as both flavouring and medicine, would have used the term in exactly the way we do now.