shea

Where does the word "shea" come from? It comes from Bambara si, and was adopted directly into English (1800s).

Shea’s story begins in Bambara: si meant “the shea tree.” The name for the tree whose nuts yield a rich, edible fat. It reached English by 1800s as shea. Mungo Park described shea butter in his 1799 travels in West Africa. Today, shea means a fat extracted from the nut of the African shea tree, used in cosmetics and cooking.

1. Stage 1 · Bambara · medieval si "the shea tree", the name for the tree whose nuts yield a rich, edible fat.
2. Stage 2 · English · 1800s shea "a fat extracted from the nuts of the shea tree", Mungo Park described shea butter in his 1799 travels in West Africa.