Rambutan
/ræmˈbuː.tən/noun
A tropical fruit with a red or yellow skin covered in soft, fleshy spines.
Did you know?Rambutan comes from Malay rambut, meaning “hair,” because its soft, hairlike spines resemble a shaggy covering; the suffix -an forms a related noun.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian
PMP
*rambut
“Hair; body hair”
Old Malay
Old Malay
rambut
“Hair or a hairy covering”
Modern Malay
Malay
rambut
“Hair”
Modern Malay
Malay
rambutan
“The hairy fruit; literally, something characterized by hair”
19th Century
English
rambutan
“A tropical fruit borrowed from Malay through colonial-era Southeast Asian usage”