Rattan
/ræˈtæn/noun
A climbing palm with long, slender stems used for furniture, baskets, and other woven objects.
Did you know?Rattan is not a tree or bamboo but a group of climbing palms, whose flexible stems can scramble through tropical forests and reach astonishing lengths.
Etymological Timeline
Before the 17th Century
Malay
rotan
“Rattan; the flexible stem of a climbing palm”
17th Century
Dutch
rotan
“Rattan, borrowed through Dutch maritime contact with Southeast Asia”
1660s
English
rattan
“A tropical climbing palm or its cane-like stem”
18th–19th Century
English
ratan
“A variant spelling of rattan”
Modern English
English
rattan
“The palm, its material, or furniture and objects made from its stems”