n. 1. Any of various annual herbs of the genus Nigella of the buttercup family, native to Eurasia and North Africa, having finely dissected leaves, showy white, blue, or yellow solitary flowers, and an aggregate fruit composed of several follicles, including love-in-a-mist. 2. See black cumin. [Middle English, from Late Latin, black cumin, from feminine of Latin nigellus, blackish, diminutive of niger, black; see nekw-t- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] |
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