■ noun a common fungus with a brown rubbery cup-shaped fruiting body, growing on dead or dying trees. [ Auricularia auricula-judae .]
Origin
C16: a mistranslation of med. L. auricula Judae 'Judas's ear', from its shape, and because it grows on the elder, which was said to be the tree from which Judas Iscariot hanged himself.