/ ˈbænjən; NAmE / (also ˈbanyan tree ) noun
a S Asian tree with structures that grow down from the branches to the ground and then grow into new roots and trunks
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WORD ORIGIN
late 16th cent.: from Portuguese , from Gujarati vāṇiyo man of the trading caste, from Sanskrit . Originally denoting a Hindu merchant, the term was applied, by Europeans in the mid 17th cent., to a tree under which such traders had built a pagoda.