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avocado - 4 dictionary results
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av⋅o⋅ca⋅do
[av-uh-kah-doh, ah-vuh-] 
–noun, plural -dos.
| 1. | Also called alligator pear. a large, usually pear-shaped fruit having green to blackish skin, a single large seed, and soft, light-green pulp, borne by the tropical American tree Persea americana and its variety P. adrymifolia, often eaten raw, esp. in salads. |
| 2. | the tree itself. |
Origin:
1690–1700; alter. of Sp abogado lit., lawyer (see advocate ), by confusion with MexSp aguacate < Nahuatl āhuacatl avocado, testicle; cf. alligator pear
1690–1700; alter. of Sp abogado lit., lawyer (see advocate ), by confusion with MexSp aguacate < Nahuatl āhuacatl avocado, testicle; cf. alligator pear
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To avocado
| av·o·ca·do (āv'ə-kä'dō, ä'və-) n. pl. av·o·ca·dos
[American Spanish, alteration (influenced by obsolete Spanish avocado, lawyer) of Nahuatl ahuacatl.] Word History: The history of avocado takes us back to the Aztecs and their language, Nahuatl, which contained the word ahuacatl meaning both "fruit of the avocado tree" and "testicle." The word ahuacatl was compounded with others, as in ahuacamolli, meaning "avocado soup or sauce," from which the Spanish-Mexican word guacamole derives. In trying to pronounce ahuacatl, the Spanish who found the fruit and its Nahuatl name in Mexico came up with aguacate, but other Spanish speakers substituted the form avocado for the Nahuatl word because ahuacatl sounded like the early Spanish word avocado (now abogado), meaning "lawyer." In borrowing the Spanish avocado, first recorded in English in 1697 in the compound avogato pear (with a spelling that probably reflects Spanish pronunciation), we have lost some traces of the more interesting Nahuatl word. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Avocado
Av`o*ca"do\, n. [Corrupted from the Mexican ahuacatl: cf. Sp. aguacate, F. aguacat['e], avocat, G. avogadobaum.] The pulpy fruit of Persea gratissima, a tree of tropical America. It is about the size and shape of a large pear; -- called also avocado pear, alligator pear, midshipman's butter.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : avocado
Spanish:
aguacate,
German:
die Avokado,
Japanese:
アボカド
avocado
1763, from Sp. avocado, altered (by folk etymology influence of earlier Sp. avocado "lawyer," from same L. source as advocate) from earlier aguacate, from Nahuatl ahuakatl "testicle." So called for its shape. As a color, first attested 1947.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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