Meanings
plural turmerics
- countableuncountablebiologyAn Indian plant (Curcuma longa), with aromatic rhizomes, part of the ginger family (Zingiberaceae).
Synonyms & antonyms
nounThe pulverized rhizome of the turmeric plant, used for flavoring and to add a bright yellow color to food.
nounA yellow to reddish-brown dye extracted from the turmeric plant.
More synonyms by meaning
nounwidely cultivated tropical plant of India having yellow flowers and a large aromatic deep yellow rhizome; source of a condiment and a yellow dye
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Old Frenchterre
- Arabicكُرْكُم“Curcuma”
- Middle Englishturmeryte
- Englishturmeric
From Middle English turmeryte, tarmaret, of uncertain origin. Possibly corrupted from Arabic كُرْكُم (kurkum, “Curcuma”) or from Old French terre mérite (“deserving earth”), potentially as a folk etymology of the Arabic.
More words from Middle English, Arabic, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans borrie
- borriespice
Arabic كُرْكُم, كُرْكُم
- كُرْكُم (kurkum)spice
- كُرْكُم (kurkum)plant
Bengali হলুদ
- হলুদ (holud)spice
Bulgarian куркума
- куркума (kurkuma)spice
Catalan cúrcuma, cúrcuma
- cúrcumaspice
- cúrcumadye
- cúrcumaplant
Chinese Cantonese 黃薑 /黄姜, 黃薑 /黄姜
- 黃薑 /黄姜 (wong⁴ goeng¹)spice
- 黃薑 /黄姜 (wong⁴ goeng¹)plant
Chinese Mandarin 薑黃 /姜黄, 薑黃 /姜黄
- 薑黃 /姜黄 (jiānghuáng)spice
- 薑黃 /姜黄 (jiānghuáng)plant
Czech kurkuma, japonský šafrán
- kurkumaspice
- japonský šafránspice
- kurkuma dlouháplant
Danish gurkemeje, gurkemeje
- gurkemejespice
- gurkemejeplant
Dutch koenjit, kurkuma
- koenjitspice
- kurkumaspice
- kurkumadye
- koenjitdye
- kurkumaplant
Esperanto kurkumo
- kurkumospice
Finnish kurkuma, kurkumiini
- kurkumaspice
- kurkumiinidye
- maustekurkumaplant
French curcuma, curcumine
- curcumaspice
- curcuminedye
- curcumaplant
German Gelbwurz, Kurkuma
- Gelbwurzspice
- Kurkumaspice
- Kurkumespice
- Kurkumaplant
- Gelbwurzplant
Greek κουρκούμη, κουρκουμάς
- κουρκούμη (kourkoúmi)spice
- κουρκουμάς (kourkoumás)plant
Hawaiian ʻōlena, lena
- ʻōlenaplant
- lenaplant
Hebrew כורכום
- כורכום (kurkum)spice
Hindi हल्दी
- हल्दी (haldī)spice
Hungarian kurkuma
- kurkumaspice
Icelandic túrmerik
- túrmerikspice
Indonesian kunyit, kunyit
- kunyitspice
- kunyitdye
- kunyitplant
Irish tuirmiric
- tuirmiricspice
Italian curcuma, curcumina
- curcumaspice
- curcuminadye
Japanese 鬱金, ウコン
- 鬱金 (ukon)spice
- ウコン (ukon)spice
Korean 강황, 강황
- 강황 (ganghwang)spice
- 강황 (ganghwang)plant
Latin curcuma
- curcumaplant
Lithuanian dažinė ciberžolė
- dažinė ciberžolėspice
Malay kunyit, kunyit
- kunyitspice
- kunyitdye
- kunyitplant
Māori renga
- rengaplant
Norwegian gurkemeie
- gurkemeiespice
Norwegian Bokmål gurkemeie
- gurkemeieplant
Persian زردچوبه, زرچوبه
- زردچوبه (zardčube)spice
- زرچوبه (zarčube)spice
- زردچوبه (zardčube)plant
- زرچوبه (zarčube)plant
Polish kurkuma, kurkuma
- kurkumaspice
- kurkumaplant
Portuguese curcuma, açafrão-da-índia
- curcumaspice
- açafrão-da-índiaspice
- açafrão-das-índiasspice
- açafrão-da-terraspice
- cúrcumaplant
- açafrão-da-índiaplant
- açafrão-das-índiasplant
Punjabi ਹਲਦੀ
- ਹਲਦੀ (haldī)spice
Romanian zerdiceaf, curcumă
- zerdiceafspice
- curcumăspice
- zerdiceafplant
Russian курку́ма, жёлтый ко́рень
- курку́ма (kurkúma)spice
- жёлтый ко́рень (žóltyj kórenʹ)spice
- желтя́к (želtják)spice
- курку́мин (kurkúmin)dye
- курку́ма (kurkúma)plant
- жёлтый ко́рень (žóltyj kórenʹ)plant
- желтя́к (želtják)plant
Spanish cúrcuma, palillo
- cúrcumaspice
- palillospice
- cúrcumaplant
- palilloplant
- yuquillaplant
- camotilloplant
Swahili manjano, bizari ya manjano
- manjanospice
- bizari ya manjanospice
- njanoplant
Swedish gurkmeja, gurkmeja
- gurkmejaspice
- gurkmejaplant
Tagalog luyang-dilaw, luyang-dilaw
- luyang-dilawspice
- luyang-dilawplant
Tamil மஞ்சள், மஞ்சள்
- மஞ்சள் (mañcaḷ)spice
- மஞ்சள் (mañcaḷ)plant
Thai ขมิ้น, ขมิ้น
- ขมิ้น (kà-mîn)spice
- ขมิ้น (kà-mîn)plant
Turkish zerdeçal, zerdeçal
- zerdeçalspice
- zerdeçalplant
Vietnamese củ nghệ, nghệ
- củ nghệspice
- nghệplant
Welsh tyrmerig, tyrmerig
- tyrmerigspice
- tyrmerigplant
Cite this entry
turmeric. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turmeric
“turmeric.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turmeric. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “turmeric,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turmeric.
Source: turmeric on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.