sesame

noun

1. a tropical, herbaceous plant, Sesamum indicum, whose small oval seeds are edible and yield an oil.
2. the seeds themselves, used to add flavor to bread, crackers, etc.
3. open sesame.

noun

1. a tropical herbaceous plant, Sesamum indicum, of the East Indies, cultivated, esp in India, for its small oval seeds: family Pedaliaceae
2. the seeds of this plant, used in flavouring bread and yielding an edible oil (benne oil or gingili)

n.early 15c., probably from Middle French sisame and directly from Latin sesamum (nominative sesama), from Greek sesamon (Doric sasamon) “seed or fruit of the sesame plant,” a very early borrowing via Phoenician from Late Babylonian *shawash-shammu (cf. Assyrian shamash-shammu “sesame,” literally “oil-seed”). First as a magic password in 1785 translation of Galland’s “Mille et une nuits,” where it opens the door of the thieves’ den in “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.” Phrase open sesame current since about 1826.