means A flowering plant cultivated for its small, flat, oil-rich edible seeds, which are used whole, ground into paste, or pressed for oil.

from Sesame came into English (via Latin and Greek 'sesamon') from a Semitic source — compare Aramaic 'shumshema' and Akkadian 'shamashshammu' — reflecting just how far back and how far afield this crop traveled across the ancient Near East. The famous cry 'Open Sesame' from the Arabian Nights tale of Ali Baba is genuinely tied to the seed: sesame pods burst open sharply when ripe, which likely made the word a fitting magic key for a cave door.