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sal·ep

(săləp)

A starchy meal ground from the dried roots of various orchids chiefly of the genus Orchis, used for food and formerly as medicine.

[Turkish salep, sahlep, salep, orchid from which salep is made, from Ottoman Turkish sa'lep, sālep, from Arabic (ḫuṣā al)-ṯa'lab, (testicles of the) fox (from the appearance of the tubers); see ṯʿlb in Semitic roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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