Late 16th century; earliest use found in William Phillip (fl. 1596–1619), translator. In some forms originally from Dutch suparij and in later use directly from its etymon Hindi supārī; in some forms from its cognate Gujarati sopārī; in some forms from its cognate Bengali supāri (pronounced with initial/ʃ/), all in sense ‘betel nut, betel leaf’, probably ultimately from Sanskrit supāra salutary (originally ‘(of a river) safe to cross’) from su- well, good + an inflected form of pṛ- to convey across, assist.