A pungent gum resin with a strong garlic-like odor, used as a spice in Indian cooking and traditional medicine. Despite its offensive smell when raw, it adds a pleasant onion-like flavor when cooked.
From Arabic anzā farīd meaning 'Persian dung', referring to its extremely unpleasant smell. The word entered English via Medieval Latin asa foetida, literally 'stinking gum'. Arabic traders were intermediaries in bringing this Persian spice to European markets, where it was valued despite its odor.
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