rattan

See also: Rattan and råttan

English

Wikispecies

Etymology

From Malay rotan.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɹəˈtæn/
  • Rhymes: -æn

Noun

rattan (countable and uncountable, plural rattans)

  1. Any of several species of climbing palm of the genus Calamus.
  2. (uncountable) The plant used as a material.
  3. A cane made from this material.
    • 1906, Walter William Skeat, Charles Otto Blagden, Pagan Races of the Malay Peninsula
      He who first acts as striker asks the other how many blows of the rattan he will bear on his forearm without crying out.
    • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 29686887 , chapter IV:
      “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
    • 2008, Jean-François Bayart, Andrew Brown, Global Subjects: A Political Critique of Globalization
      […] the rattan is still a valued instrument of discipline […]

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