sumac

Meanings

Noun

• Any of various shrubs or small trees of the genus Rhus and other genera in Anacardiaceae, particularly the elm-leaved sumac, Sicilian sumac, or tanner's sumac (Rhus coriaria).
• Dried and chopped-up leaves and stems of a plant of the genus Rhus, particularly the tanner's sumac (see sense 1), used for dyeing and tanning leather or for medicinal purposes.
• A sour spice popular in the Eastern Mediterranean, made from the berries of tanner's sumac.

Verb

• To apply a preparation of sumac to (an object), for example, to a piece of leather to tan it.

Related

Narrower meaning words

• skunkbush (Rhus trilobata (species))

Origin

• The noun is derived from Middle English sumac, asimac, simak, sumak, symak, from Anglo-Norman sumak, symak, and Old French sumac, or directly from its etymon Medieval Latin sumach, sumac, from Arabic سُمَّاق, from Classical Syriac ܣܘܡܩܐ ("red; sumac"). The English word is cognate with Italian sommaco, sommacco, Occitan simac, Portuguese sumagre, Spanish zumaque.
• The verb is derived from the noun.