betel

or be·tel pepper

[ beet-l ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

an East Indian pepper plant, Piper betle, the leaves of which are chewed with other ingredients.

betel

/ ˈbiːtəl /

an Asian piperaceous climbing plant, Piper betle , the leaves of which are chewed, with the betel nut, by the peoples of SE Asia

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Origin of betel¹

1545–55; < Portuguese bétele, bétere < Malayalam viṟṟila or Tamil veṟṟilai

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Origin of betel¹

C16: from Portuguese, from Malayalam vettila

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Later, if they decide to separate, the couple must break a betel nut to break the union.

Alila's grandmother prepared a quantity of betel before the new baby was born.

The Chinese and natives of the place chew this nut with betel-leaf and calcined mussel-shells.

The Dhimal propitiate Data and Bedata by presents of betel-leaf and red-lead.

All men who attended had a head-dress made of the leaf petiole of the betel tree and the red leaves of the dongola plant.

The ex-queen chewed betel and smiled at him, and he, in return, tickled the soles of her feet till she screamed.

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