Main Entry:

man·na

Pronunciation:

\ˈma-nə\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Middle English, from Old English, from Late Latin, from Greek, from Hebrew mān

Date:

before 12th century

1 a: food miraculously supplied to the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness b: divinely supplied spiritual nourishment c: a usually sudden and unexpected source of gratification, pleasure, or gain2 a: the sweetish dried exudate of a Eurasian ash (especially Fraxinus ornus) that contains mannitol and has been used as a laxative and demulcent b: a similar product excreted by a scale insect (Trabutina mannipara) feeding on the tamarisk