henna
UK[ˈhɛnə]US[ˈhɛnə]
n
A reddish-brown dye made from the leaves of a tropical shrub, used to color hair and decorate the skin.
n
The Old World shrub that produces these leaves.
Etymology
The word 'henna' entered English in the early 17th century, borrowed directly from the Arabic ḥinnāʾ. This Arabic term is believed to have deeper, pre-Semitic roots, tracing back to an ancient source language of the Middle East or North Africa where the plant and its use originated. The journey of the word mirrors the spread of the cultural practice of using the dye, moving from its ancient ritual and decorative uses in regions like Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula into European languages via trade and colonial contact. Thus, the modern English term retains the phonetic and semantic essence of its Arabic predecessor, denoting both the plant and the pigment derived from it.
Analysis
The word 'henna' is a simplex loanword. It is borrowed from Arabic ḥinnāʾ, which itself is likely of non-Semitic origin, possibly from a lost ancient language.
Examples
She decorated her hands with intricate patterns of henna for the wedding ceremony.
Many people use henna as a natural alternative to chemical hair dyes.
The henna plant thrives in hot, arid climates.