Azadirachta
/ˌæzədiˈræktə/noun
A genus of tropical trees in the mahogany family, including the neem tree, Azadirachta indica.
Did you know?The name traveled from Persian and Arabic plant vocabulary into scientific Latin, while neem itself became associated with purification and protection in South Asian traditions.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*deru-
“Firm, solid wood; the ancestral root behind words for trees and durability”
Middle Persian
Middle Persian
drakht
“Tree”
Medieval Persian
Persian
āzād-darakht-i hindī
“Free tree of India”
Medieval Arabic
Arabic
azādirakht
“Neem tree; a borrowing of the Persian expression”
1830
Scientific Latin
Azadirachta
“Botanical genus name formed from the Arabic-Persian plant name”
Modern English
English
Azadirachta
“The genus containing neem and related tropical trees”