Everyday LifeGreek → English
Almond
/ˈɑmənd/noun
The edible seed of the almond tree, eaten whole or ground.
The Greek roots
ἀμυγδάλη
amygdálē
almond
Literally: “almond”
Follow a root:ἀμυγδάλη2 words
The story of the word
Late Latin turned ἀμυγδάλη into amandula, Old French made it almande, and the intrusive l stayed. Where the Greek word itself came from is unsettled; a Semitic source is often proposed and has never been demonstrated. Anatomists went back past the French to the original: the amygdala, the almond-shaped nucleus deep in each temporal lobe, is named purely for its shape.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Late Latin → Old French → English
- First recorded
- c. 1300
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
amygdalaamygdaloid
In a sentence
Toast the almonds first or the whole thing tastes of nothing.
She is allergic to almonds but fine with every other nut.