Nypa

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A tropical palm with long fronds that grows in brackish mangrove swamps and river estuaries across Southeast Asia and the Pacific
2. The nipa palm, a low-growing tropical plant whose leaves are used for thatching and whose sap is made into sugar and alcohol
3. A mangrove-dwelling palm of coastal tidal areas, valued in tropical regions for its roofing leaves and its sap

Etymology: Nypa is a genus of palm, and its name comes from Malay "nipah," the local name for the palm in the Malay Archipelago. The word passed into European scientific use through botanical writing, and it was the Dutch and British naturalists working in the East Indies who carried the name into Western languages. The plant is a mangrove palm whose fronds and sap have long been put to use, from roofing and thatch to sugar and alcohol. Because "nypa" is a scientific and regional name rather than a word that grew through everyday speech, its history is essentially that of a borrowing: a local term, recorded by European travelers and botanists, then fixed in the Latin genus name.