Standard Lemma guide

behen

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of various plants imported into Europe for the pharmaceutical trade in dried form, so of uncertain identity.

Behen rubrum or red behen: said in some sources to be Salvia haematodes (now Salvia pratensis subsp. haematodes), but in other sources to be Statice limonium, which is a synonym for Limonium vulgare.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Any of various plants imported into Europe for the pharmaceutical trade in dried form, so of uncertain identity.

Behen album or white behen: a thistle native to western and central Asia, Centaurea behen

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Any of various plants imported into Europe for the pharmaceutical trade in dried form, so of uncertain identity.

Behen officinarum: Cucubalis behen or Oberna behen, synonyms for Silene vulgaris

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: obsolete, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

A Medieval Latin transcription of the Arabic بَهْمَن (bahman).