jambun.

Brit.

/ˈdʒambuː/, U.S.

/ˈdʒæmˌbu/, Indian English /ˈdʒəmbʊ/, /ˈdʒəmbuː/

Forms: Also jambo, jamboo, jambos, jumboo, yamboo.

Etymology: Various vernacular forms representing Sanskrit jambu, jambū ‘rose-apple’, and its derivatives jambula, jambūla, etc. N.E.D. (1900) enters this under the double headword jambo, jambu and gives the pronunciations (dʒæ·mbo, -bū) /ˈdʒæmbəʊ/, /-buː/.

East India.

A name given in different parts of the East Indies and Malay Archipelago to several species of Syzygium (family Myrtaceæ), and their fruits; esp.:

a. S. jambos, the Rose Apple.

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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > tropical exotic fruit > rose-apple

jambu1598

jambolan1613

rose apple1790

jamun1826

jamrosade1866

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular fruit-tree or -plant > [noun] > tropical or exotic fruit-tree or -plant > rose-apple tree

Malabar plum1807

rose apple1809

Malay apple1822

jambu1851

Malacca apple1871

pomerac1919

1598 W. Phillip tr. J. H. van Linschoten Disc. Voy. E. & W. Indies i. liii. 95/1 Of Iambos. In India ther is an other fruit that for the beautie, pleasant taste, smell, and medicinable vertue thereof, is worthie to bee written of... The Iambos tree taketh deepe roote.

1613 S. Purchas Pilgrimage 505 The Iambos..smelleth like a Rose, is ruddie; and the tree is never without fruit or blossomes.

1775 F. Masson in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 66 270 No Indian fruits, except the guyava and jambo.

1851 Official Descriptive & Illustr. Catal. Great Exhib. IV. 1319 Jambo, Rose apple (Eugenia jambos).

b. S. cumini, the Java Plum, also called jambolan n. and jamun n.

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tamarind1614

star apple1693

seven-year apple1731

wild mangosteen1753

peach1760

ackee1792

Java plum1829

abiu1834

jambu1834

jakkalsbessie1854

calabash-nutmeg1866

jambolan1866

Chinese gooseberry1925

1834 A. Burnes Trav. Bokhara I. ii. 41 They consisted of the peach,..mango, jamboo, bair, date,..and the apple.

1866 D. Livingstone Jrnl. (1873) I. vii. 172 We got some wretched wild fruit like that called ‘jambos’, in India.

1879 E. Arnold Light of Asia vi. 143 The books Tell how jambu-branches, planted thus, Shot with quick life in wealth of leaf and flower.

c. S. malaccense, the Malay Apple, and kindred species, native to the Malay archipelago.

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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > tropical exotic fruit > of Asia

durian1588

lychee1588

mangosteen1598

prickly melon1640

longan1655

rambutan1707

jambu1727

Otaheite apple1777

langsat1783

rambai1811

loquat1829

wampee1830

1727 A. Hamilton New Acct. E. Indies I. xxi. 255 Their Jambo Malacca is very beautiful and pleasant.

1773 J. Hawkesworth Acct. Voy. Southern Hemisphere III. iii. xiii. 737 The jamboo. The Eugenia Mallaccensis of Linnæus. This fruit is of a deep red colour, and an oval shape; the largest..are not bigger than a small apple; they are pleasant and cooling, though they have not much flavour.

1788 G. Keate Acct. Pelew Islands xxi. 257 (note) It is the Jamboo Apple, the Eugenia Malaccensis of Linnæus.

1809 M. Graham Jrnl. Resid. India (1813) 22 The jumboo, a species of rose-apple, with its flowers, like crimson tassels, covering every part of the stem.

1883 I. L. Bird Sketches Malay Penins. v, in Leisure Hour 198/2 Clusters of a species of jambu, a pear-shaped fruit.

Derivatives

jambol n.

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1880 C. R. Markham Peruvian Bark 382 By the roadside..there were roses, daturas, and jambol~trees (Eugenia Jambolanum) with heads of graceful flowers.

jambul n. [ < Sanskrit jambula, jambūla: see jambu n.]

ΚΠ

1887 New Sydenham Soc. Lexicon Jambul, the Syzygium jambolanum.

jambolan n. = b.

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