Standard Lemma guide

ginseng

noun · 4 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈd͡ʒɪnsɛŋ/
  • [ˈd͡ʒɪnsɛŋ]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Southern-US: /ˈd͡ʒɪnsɪŋ/
  • Southern-US: [ˈd͡ʒɪnsɪ̟ŋ]
  • /ˈd͡ʒɪnsæŋ/ without æ-raising
  • [ˈd͡ʒɪnsæŋ] without æ-raising
  • /ˈd͡ʒɪnseɪ̯ŋ/ æ-raising
  • [ˈd͡ʒɪnseɪ̯ŋ] æ-raising
  • /ˈd͡ʒɪnsɛ̃ŋ/ æ-raising
  • [ˈd͡ʒɪnsɛ̃ŋ] æ-raising
  • rhymes with -ɪnsɛŋ
  • CMU ARPABET: JH IH1 N S EH2 NG Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any plant of two species of the genus Panax (Panax ginseng and Panax quinquefolius), having forked roots supposed to have medicinal and aphrodisiac properties.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The root of such a plant, or an extract of these roots.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Chinese herb with palmately compound leaves and small greenish flowers and forked aromatic roots believed to have medicinal powers

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nin-sin, Panax ginseng, Panax schinseng, Panax pseudoginseng

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: herb, herbaceous plant

4

noun

Meaning 4

aromatic root of ginseng plants

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: root

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Hokkien 人參 /人参 (jîn-sim, “ginseng”). Doublet of ninzin.

Across languages

Translations

96 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: جِينْسِنْغ (jinsinḡ) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Armenian: ժենշեն (ženšen) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Azerbaijani: jenşen — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Belarusian: жэньшэ́нь (ženʹšénʹ) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Bulgarian: женшен (ženšen) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Burmese: ဂျင်ဆင် (gyanghcang) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Catalan: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese Cantonese: 人參 /人参 (jan4 sam1) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese Cantonese: 人蔘 /人𦲞 (jan4 sam1) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese Cantonese: 人参 (jan4 sam1) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese: 人參 /人参 — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese: 人蔘 /人𦲞 — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese: 人参 (jîn-sam, jîn-sim, jîn-som, lîn-sam) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人參 /人参 (rénshēn) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人蔘 /人𦲞 (rénshēn) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人参 (rénshēn) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Czech: ženšen — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Danish: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Dutch: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Esperanto: ginsengo — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Finnish: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Georgian: ჯინსენგი (ǯinsengi) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Georgian: ჟენშენი (ženšeni) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • German: Ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Hawaiian: ianakama — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Hebrew: ג׳ינסנג (jinseng) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Hindi: जिनसेंग (jinseṅg) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Hungarian: ginzeng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Icelandic: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Indonesian: ginséng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Indonesian: insam — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Indonesian: kolesom — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Japanese: 朝鮮人参 (chōsen ninjin) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Japanese: 高麗人参 (kōrai ninjin) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Japanese: 御種人参 (otane ninjin) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Kazakh: адамтамыр (adamtamyr) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Kazakh: адамшөп (adamşöp) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Korean: 인삼 (insam) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Korean: 심 (sim) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Lao: ໂສມ (sōm) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Latvian: žeņšeņs — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Lithuanian: kraikūnis — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Lithuanian: ženšenis — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • : ᦵᦍᦲᧃᧉᦵᦌᦲᧃᧈ (yoen2soen1) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Malay: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Manchu: ᠣᡵᡥᠣᡩᠠ (orhoda) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Mongolian: хүн орхоодой (xün orxoodoj) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Persian: جینسنگ (jinseng) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Polish: żeń-szeń — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Polish: wszechlek — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Portuguese: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Romanian: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Russian: женьше́нь (ženʹšénʹ) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Russian: жэньшэ́нь (žɛnʹšɛ́nʹ) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Serbo-Croatian: женшен — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Serbo-Croatian: ženšen — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Spanish: ginseng (yinsen) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Swedish: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Tagalog: dyinseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Thai: โสม (sǒom) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Turkish: ginseng — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Turkmen: ženşen — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Ukrainian: женьше́нь (ženʹšénʹ) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Uyghur: ئادەمگىياھ (ademgiyah) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Vietnamese: nhân sâm — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Vietnamese: sâm — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Yiddish: זשען־זשען (zhen-zhen) — any of several plants, of the genus Panax
  • Arabic: جِينْسِنْغ (jinsinḡ) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Armenian: ժենշեն (ženšen) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Catalan: ginseng — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Chinese Cantonese: 人蔘 /人𦲞 (jan4 sam1) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Chinese Mandarin: 人蔘根 /人𦲞根/人參根 /人参根 (rénshēn gēn) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Danish: ginseng — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Danish: ginsengrod — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Dutch: ginseng — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Finnish: ginseng — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Finnish: ginsengjuuri — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Georgian: ჟენშენი (ženšeni) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • German: Ginseng — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Hungarian: ginzeng — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Japanese: 朝鮮人参 (chōsen ninjin) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Japanese: 高麗人参 (kōrai ninjin) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Japanese: 御種人参 (otane ninjin) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Korean: 인삼 (insam) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Lithuanian: kraikūnis — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Mongolian: хүн орхоодой (xün orxoodoj) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Persian: جینسنگ (jinseng) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Polish: żeń-szeń — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Portuguese: ginseng — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Russian: женьше́нь (ženʹšénʹ) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Russian: жэньшэ́нь (žɛnʹšɛ́nʹ) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Spanish: ginseng (yinsen) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Thai: โสม (sǒom) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Uyghur: ئادەمگىياھ (ademgiyah) — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Vietnamese: nhân sâm — root of such a plant, or the extract
  • Yiddish: זשען־זשען (zhen-zhen) — root of such a plant, or the extract