durum

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun wheat with hard dark-colored kernels high in gluten and used for bread and pasta; grown especially in southern Russia, North Africa, and northern central North America

Borrowing from Latin dūrum, nominative neuter singular of dūrus (“hard”). Doublet of dour and dure.

“Mensque pati durum sustinet aegra nihil.” [“And the infirm mind can bear no difficult exertion.” --Ovid, De Ponto., i. — Essays of Michel de Montaigne — Complete, Michel de Montaigne
It is said that Deucalion and Pyrrha created men by throwing stones over their heads behind them:— Inde genus durum sumus, experiensque laborum, Et documenta damus quâ simus origine nati. — Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau

durum wheat, hard wheat, Triticum durum, Triticum turgidum, macaroni wheat

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