mehndin.
/ˈmɛndi/, U.S. /ˈmɛndi/ 1. Chiefly in South Asia: the henna plant, Lawsonia inermis, often used as hedging; (also) a preparation of this, used to dye skin and hair.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plants used in dyeing > trees or shrubs yielding dyes > [noun] > henna plants
cyprea1382
alcanna1526
henna1662
mehndi1813
Egyptian privet1825
1813 J. Forbes Oriental Mem. I. iv. 75 After the girls are betrothed, the ends of the fingers and nails are dyed red, with a preparation from the mendey, or hinna shrub.
1816 Mrs. Sherwood Ayah & Lady x. 63 She..caused her to stain the palms of her hands and feet with the juice of mindy.
1818 M. M. Sherwood Stories Church Catech. (ed. 4) x. 52 His garden..was well fenced round with a ditch and mindy hedge.
1839 Penny Cycl. XIII. 367/2 The natives of North India distinguished the unarmed species by the name phoolke, or flowering mhendee... The thorny species is called mhendee.
1886 H. Yule & A. C. Burnell Hobson-Jobson Mendy.
1887 E. Arnold Lotus & Temple 39 Paint thy lids, and stain Thy feet and hands with mehndi.
1905 Jrnl. Anthropol. Inst. 35 281 Some castes send the women a suit of green clothes, red bangles, a nahernâ, some mehndî, and a silver vessel.
1973 J. G. Farrell Siege of Krishnapur xxvi. 283 The first lot to be put up was a tin of sugar biscuits and a jar of ‘mendy’, a pomade of native origin for dyeing the hair black.
1991 K. Mahabir Medicinal & Edible Plants Trinidad & Tobago 97 Mehndi..is grown as an ornamental.
1991 K. Mahabir Medicinal & Edible Plants Trinidad & Tobago 154 Kumari: Do you know mehendi [sc. Lawsonia inermis]? Sagar: Muslim people does use that during their wedding.
2. Esp. in South Asia: the art, skill, or practice of applying temporary henna tattoos, spec. as part of a bride or groom's preparations for a wedding; such a tattoo. Cf. henna tattoo n.During the 1990s, such tattoos became fashionable outside South Asian communities as a form of adornment for both males and females.
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1832 Meer Hassan Ali Observ. on Mussulmauns of India I. xiv. 382 I have often heard the ladies complain, that the time hangs very heavy on their hands whilst the party are gone to perform Mayndhie.
1988 Newsday (Nexis) 14 Oct. 21 Another demonstration features mehndi or henna hand-painting in floral and geometric patterns.
1997 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) 30 July 6 d ‘There's no commitment like there is with a real tattoo,’ says Ricki, who learned the art about seven years ago in Bangladesh and has done 20 to 30 mehndis a week since spring.
1998 Independent on Sunday 6 Dec. (Real Life section) 2/1 Half the streets in Britain seem to be squatted by kids selling mehndi tattoos, the clubs full of kids wearing Bindis over their third eye.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1813