bergamot

Also a fabric or tapestry of mixed flock and hair (from Bergamo, Italy) (OED2).

Yup, Colleen! Dang right! That's where I first started to love the word...when I found an Earl Grey tea that was labeled "Double Bergamot." Wonder of wonders - that was a tea to make anyone a tea drinker!

the stuff that makes Earl Grey yummy!

ber·ga·mot
–noun 1. a small citrus tree, Citrus aurantium bergamia, having fruit with a rind that yields a fragrant essential oil.
2. Also called essence of bergamot. the oil or essence itself.
3. any of various plants of the mint family, as Monarda fistulosa, yielding an oil resembling essence of bergamot.
4. a variety of pear.

American Heritage Dictionary - bee balm
n. An aromatic eastern North American herb (Monarda didyma) in the mint family, having variously colored, tubular bilabiate flowers grouped in dense showy heads. Also called bergamot.

n. A small tree (Citrus aurantium subsp. bergamia) commercially grown chiefly in southern Italy for its sour citrus fruits, the rinds of which yield an aromatic oil. Also called bergamot orange. The oil itself, used extensively in perfumery.


French bergamote, from Italian bergamotta, from Turkish dialectal beg-armudu, bey's pear : beg, bey; see bey + armud, pear + -u, possessive suff.