Cinnamon

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈsɪn.ə.mən/

Definitions

1. A warm spice made from the dried inner bark of a tropical tree, typically ground into a fine powder and used to flavor sweet and savory foods
2. A reddish-brown aromatic powder or stick derived from tree bark, commonly used as a flavoring agent in cooking and baking
3. The dried and processed inner bark of a Southeast Asian tree, ground or kept whole, valued for its warm sweetness in culinary applications

Etymology: Cinnamon has been a valuable trade good for so long that its name travelled across several languages before reaching English. The Ancient Greek "kinnámōmon" (later "kínnamon") is recorded by the historian Herodotus, who traced the word to Phoenician, the language of the eastern Mediterranean traders who handled the spice. The same word appears in Hebrew as "qinnāmōn," which shows how far the trade and its vocabulary spread through the ancient world. From Greek, the word passed into Latin as "cinnamomum," and from there into Old French as "cinnamone." English borrowed it in the Middle Ages as "synamome," and the spelling gradually settled into the form we use now. The word's journey mirrors the spice's own route: a bark prized enough to be carried from one trading culture to the next, with each language taking the name along.

Synonyms: spice, flavoring