Plantain in Malayalam
Malayalam names the fruit rather than the plant: വാഴപ്പഴം (vazhappazham) is what Kerala calls a banana or plantain, the ripe fruit sold by the comb at every roadside stall. It is a plain kitchen and market word, with nothing formal or literary about it.
Banana. The ripe fruit of the plantain; often called simply pazham.
രാവിലെ ഒരു വാഴപ്പഴം കഴിച്ചു.
ravile oru vazhappazham kazhichu.
I ate a banana in the morning.
All Malayalam words for “plantain”
- വാഴപ്പഴം (vazhappazham) — Banana. The ripe fruit of the plantain; often called simply pazham.
- പടലവിരിയുക (padalaviriyuka) — Blossom out (of the plantain spadix).
- പൂവന് (poovan) — Cock, male bird, one having flower, a kind of plantain, tree that doesn't bear fruit, Brahma.
- പൊട്ടുകുല (pottukula) — Bunch of unripe plantain fruits.
The dictionary has no separate entry for the plantain tree itself; pottukula is a bunch of unripe plantain fruits and poovan names one particular variety, so neither stands in for the general word.
Common questions
How do you say plantain in Malayalam?
വാഴപ്പഴം (vazhappazham) is the usual word, used for both bananas and plantains.
Is there a word for a bunch of green plantains?
Yes, പൊട്ടുകുല (pottukula) is a bunch of unripe plantain fruits.