Meanings
plural munjeets · alternative mungeet
- uncountableusuallyThe plant Rubia cordifolia, or Indian madder; the dye extracted from the plant.
The colour of all is red; that of munjeet being a yellow, or orange red, that of the lac a bluish or crimson red, and that of the Bignonia a brown red.
1831, Appendix I: Dying Drugs from South America: Transactions of the Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, volume XLVIII, page 1903 more examples
The stalks of the munjeet are very dry, light, and porous; the fracture exhibits a congeries of empty tubes. The powdered munjeet is composed of the thin and thick stalks mixed.
1853, James Napier, Chemistry Applied to Dyeing, page 389He states that the munjeet root contains as much colouring matter as the Rubia tinctorum, and, according to Mr. Higgins, of Manchester, it yields from 52 to 55 per cent. of a garancine; but as it has only half the dyeing power of ordinary garancine, it cannot be employed with advantage for this purpose.
1871, Crace Calvert, Cantor Lecture II: On Dyes and Dyestuffs other than Aniline: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, volume 19, page 815Runge, who examined the tinctorial power of munjeet, concluded that it contained twice as much available colouring matter as madder; but later experiments have shown that the colouring power is actually less.
1918, Arthur George Perkin, Arthur Ernest Everest, The Natural Organic Colouring Matters, page 42
Synonyms & antonyms
nounperennial East Indian creeping or climbing herb used for dye in the orient
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Sanskritमञ्जिष्ठा f
- Sauraseni Prakrit𑀫𑀁𑀚𑀺𑀝𑁆𑀞𑀸
- Hindiमंजीठ
- Englishmunjeet
Borrowed from Hindi मंजीठ (mañjīṭh), an alternative form of मजीठ (majīṭh), in turn derived from Sauraseni Prakrit 𑀫𑀁𑀚𑀺𑀝𑁆𑀞𑀸 (maṃjiṭṭhā), ultimately derived from Sanskrit मञ्जिष्ठा f (mañjiṣṭhā).
More words from Hindi, Sauraseni Prakrit, Sanskrit
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
munjeet. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/munjeet
“munjeet.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/munjeet. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “munjeet,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/munjeet.
Source: munjeet on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.