"Kaffir" is thought to ultimately derive from the Arabic kafir, meaning infidel, though the mechanism by which it came to be applied to the lime is uncertain.

Following the takeover of the Swahili coast, Muslims used the term to refer to the non-Muslim indigenous Africans, who were increasingly abducted for the Indian Ocean slave trade, which reached a height in the fifteenth and sixteenth century.

[citation needed] The most likely etymology is through the Kaffirs, an ethnic group in Sri Lanka partly descended from enslaved Bantu.

"[10][12] Another proposed etymology is directly by Indian Muslims of the imported fruit from the non-Muslim lands to the east to "convey otherness and exotic provenance.

[18] In South Africa, the Arabic kafir was adopted by White colonialists as "kaffir,"[10] an ethnic slur for black African people.

[20][21][22] C. hystrix is a thorny shrub or small tree, 2 to 11 metres (6 to 35 ft) tall, with aromatic and distinctively shaped "double" leaves.

The fruit is rough and green and ripens to yellow; it is distinguished by its bumpy exterior and small size, approximately 4 cm (2 in) wide.

[29] The zest of the fruit, referred to as combava,[citation needed] is used in creole cuisine to impart flavor in infused rums and rougails in Mauritius, Réunion, and Madagascar.

Makrut lime oil is used as raw material in many fields, including pharmaceutical, agronomic, food, sanitary, cosmetic, and perfume industries.