A type of large fig tree from India that grows aerial roots and can spread over a huge area, sometimes looking like a small forest.
From Portuguese 'banian', derived from Sanskrit 'vanij' (merchant). Originally the word referred to Hindu merchants, and the tree name came from their practice of trading beneath these trees, which eventually replaced the merchant meaning.
The banyan tree is botanically wild—a single tree can create an entire ecosystem, with some specimens covering several acres and looking like many trees joined together, and the word itself traveled from meaning 'merchant' to 'tree' through cultural misunderstanding!
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