tapioca

[tap-ee-oh-kuh] Origin

tap·i·o·ca

[tap-ee-oh-kuh]
noun
a food substance prepared from cassava in granular, flake, pellet (pearl tapioca), or flour form, used in puddings, as a thickener, etc.

Origin:
1605–15; < Portuguese < Tupi tipioca literally, juice (of cassava) squeezed out, i.e., pulp after squeezing
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Tapioca is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
Collins
World English Dictionary
tapioca (ˌtæpɪˈəʊkə)
 
n
a beadlike starch obtained from cassava root, used in cooking as a thickening agent, esp in puddings
 
[C18: via Portuguese from Tupi tipioca pressed-out juice, from tipi residue + ok to squeeze out]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

tapioca
1648, from Port. or Sp. tapioca, from Tupi (Brazil) tipioca, from tipi "residue, dregs" + og, ok "to squeeze out" (from roots of the cassava plant).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia

tapioca

a preparation of cassava-root starch used as a food, in bread or as a thickening agent in liquid foods, notably puddings but also soups and juicy pies.

Learn more about tapioca with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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