avocado

avocado
\ \ [17] Anyone tucking into an avocado could well be taken aback to learn that in the South American Indian language from which the word originally came, it meant literally ‘testicle’. The Nahuatl Indians named the fruit ahuacatltesticle’ on account of its shape. The Spanish conquistadors took the word over as aguacate, but before long this became altered by folk etymology (the substitution of familiar for unfamiliar forms) to avocado (literally ‘advocate’ in Spanish). When English borrowed the word, folk etymology took a hand yet again, for in the late 17th century it became known as the alligator pear, a name which survived into the 20th century.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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  • Avocado — Avocado …   Deutsch Wörterbuch

  • Avocado — Frucht am Baum Systematik Klasse: Bedecktsamer (Magnoliopsida) Magnoliids …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • avocado — AVOCÁDO s.n. Fruct exotic, comestibil, de mare valoare nutritivă, având formă de pară, de culoare verde închis, cu un sâmbure mare cât o nucă la mijloc. Tăiat în jumătăţi de a lungul, se obţin un fel de barchete ce pot fi umplute cu diverse… …   Dicționar Român

  • Avocado — Sf (die eßbare Frucht eines südamerikanischen Baumes) per. Wortschatz exot. (20. Jh.) Entlehnung. Entlehnt aus gleichbedeutend älterem span. avocado m. (d.h. Advokat, heute abogado), einer volksetymologischen Umbenennung von Nahuatl ahuacatl, aus …   Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen sprache

  • avocado — (n.) 1763, from Sp. avocado, altered (by folk etymology influence of earlier Sp. avocado lawyer, from same Latin source as ADVOCATE (Cf. advocate) (n.)) from earlier aguacate, from Nahuatl ahuakatl avocado, testicle. So called for its shape. As a …   Etymology dictionary

  • avocado — ☆ avocado [av΄ə kä′dō, ä΄vəkä′dō ] n. pl. avocados [altered (infl. by earlier Sp avocado, now abogado, advocate) < MexSp aguacate < Nahuatl a:wakaλ, avocado, lit., testicle; so named from its shape] 1. a widespread, thick skinned, pear… …   English World dictionary

  • 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… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • avocado — avocado. (Quizá del caribe aohuicate o avoka). m. Filip. aguacate (ǁ árbol). || 2. Filip. aguacate (ǁ fruto) …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • avocado — (Quizá del caribe aohuicate o avoka). 1. m. Filip. aguacate (ǁ árbol). 2. Filip. aguacate (ǁ fruto) …   Diccionario de la lengua española

  • avocado — ► NOUN (pl. avocados) ▪ a pear shaped fruit with a rough skin, pale green flesh, and a large stone. ORIGIN Spanish, from Nahuatl …   English terms dictionary

  • Avocado — taxobox name = Alvacodo image caption = Avocado fruit and foliage, Huntington Library, California regnum = Plantae unranked divisio = Angiosperms unranked classis = Magnoliids ordo = Laurales familia = Lauraceae genus = Persea species = P.… …   Wikipedia

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