A tropical Asian grass plant (Coix lacryma-jobi) that produces seeds used in traditional medicine and as food.
From Malay/Hindi origin, the word refers to Job's tears plant. Also spelled 'adlai,' reflecting different phonetic transcriptions of Southeast Asian languages into English.
Those beautiful teardrop-shaped beads you might see in prayer bracelets are adlay seeds—they're called 'Job's tears' because of a biblical connection, and they've been used in Asian medicine for thousands of years.
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