Nipah

Part of speech: noun, adjective

Definitions

1. A dangerous virus passed from bats and pigs to people, causing brain inflammation ; a mangrove palm of Southeast Asia with leaves used for thatching
2. A deadly virus carried by fruit bats that can infect humans and cause encephalitis ; a palm tree growing in tidal swamps whose leaves roof houses
3. A serious viral infection transmitted from animals to humans that inflames the brain ; a coastal swamp palm of Asia whose fronds are woven into roofing

Etymology: Nipah is a palm, Nypa fruticans, that grows in brackish mangrove swamps and along estuaries across Southeast Asia and parts of the Pacific. The English word is an alternative spelling of "nipa", and it was borrowed from Malay, where the palm is called "nipah". The Malay name is the word that travelled into English, carrying with it the plant's common associations with coastal swamps. Some sources also link the word to "ɲipa", a term in Cocopa, the language of an indigenous people of the lower Colorado River region in North America. The two words share a similar sound, but the palm's name in English is clearly the Malay one, so the Cocopa form is best seen as a separate, unrelated coincidence rather than the origin of the English term.