means The flat inner surface of your hand between wrist and fingers — or, separately, a tropical tree with fan-like or feathery fronds.

from Both senses trace to Latin 'palma,' which meant the flat of the hand. The tree borrowed the name because its spreading fronds were thought to resemble splayed fingers — the leaf is a hand held up to the sky. From the same root come 'palmistry' (reading the hand) and the verb 'to palm,' as in concealing something in that flat hollow. English took the word in via Old English and Old French.