Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A tropical American tree (Persea americana) having oval or pear-shaped fruit with leathery skin, yellowish-green flesh, and a large seed.
- n. The edible fruit of this tree. Also called alligator pear, avocado pear.
- n. A dull green.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The alligator-pear, the fruit of Persea gratissima, natural order Lauraceœ, a tree common in tropical America and the West Indies. It is from 1 to 2 pounds in weight, is pear-shaped, of a brownishgreen or purple color, and is highly esteemed, though rather as a vegetable than as a fruit. The pulp is firm and marrow-like, whence the fruit is sometimes known as vegetable marrow or midshipmen's butter. The oil is said to be equal to palm oil for soap. The tree is an evergreen, growing to the height of 30 feet. Also avocato, avigato.
Wiktionary
- n. The large, usually yellowish-green or black, pulpy fruit of the avocado tree.
- n. The avocado tree.
- n. A dull yellowish-green colour, the colour of the meat of an avocado.
- adj. Of a dull yellowish-green colour.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. 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 .
WordNet 3.0
- adj. of the dull yellowish green of the meat of an avocado
- n. tropical American tree bearing large pulpy green fruits
- n. a pear-shaped tropical fruit with green or blackish skin and rich yellowish pulp enclosing a single large seed
Etymologies
- From Spanish aguacate, from Nahuatl ahuacatl. Influenced by confusion with Spanish abogado ("lawyer"). (Wiktionary)
- American Spanish, alteration (influenced by obsolete Spanish avocado, lawyer) of Nahuatl ahuacatl. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word avocado comes from "aguacate" in Spanish, which in turn comes from the Nahuatl Mexican native language "ahuacatl", referring to a certain intimate part of the male anatomy.”
“Native to Mexico, the avocado is available year round, although its peak months are late May to March.”
Exotic summer refreshment: a guide to Mexico's tropical fruit
“Although most often used as a vegetable in salads, soups and appetizers, the avocado is a fruit and, more specifically, a single-seed berry.”
“The ratio of nutrients to calories in salmon, walnuts and avocado is very, very high.”
The Huffington Post: David Katz, M.D.: Why Calorie Posting Isn't Enough
“The avocado is lemon-ish and the green tomato tastes like apple pie!”
“When the avocado is really good, I think that's the best way to serve it.”
“We never played in avocado green polyester shirts.”
“Kitchen appliances began to be mass produced in avocado and gold instead of white, colors and fabrics in clothing were ordained by the designers, and heaven help you if you did not look well in citron the year it was the “in” color.”
jean casey | the death of fashion? « poetry dispatch & other notes from the underground
“A thin avocado sauce, vinegar-marinated onion rings, shredded cabbage salad, and a selection of red and green salsas are as necessary at a Baja fish taco stand as catsup and mustard at a burger barn.”
“Sliced or diced avocado is also a nice garnish with many salads, as are roasted or pickled green chile strips.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘avocado’.
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Loanwords
Since English is littered with loanwords, everything could conceivably end up here. But there is a distinct feeling associated with these.. maybe they're young additions to the English language; I ...
iceberg, fjord, firth, abbey, abyss, anorak, apartheid, assassin, avalanche, avocado, balaclava, banana and 104 more...
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Tati's list
comfortable
comfortable, avocado, avoid, beautiful, beer, bear, brief, breath, bug, bias, burn, case and 97 more...
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food collection
bread, peel, pot, chorizo, Filet, olive, fill, Phyllo, dough, bake, mat, pinot and 988 more...
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american
'cool' words or phrases with native american origins both phonetically or meanings translated into English ..
pow-wow, Rainbow Warriors, tomahawk, mohawk, Mohican, Sioux, Husky, Apache, moccasin, pecan, shaman, squaw and 4 more...
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Fashion Colors
Names of colors in fashion and advertising
periwinkle, oxblood, mauve, avocado, pink mist, cobalt, sage green, daiquiri green, rococco red, neon yellow, maize, pastel mint and 59 more...
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Nahuatl
"Spanish náhuatl, from Nahuatl, that which pleases the ear, from nahua-, audible, intelligent, clear."
- etymology from The American Heritage Dictionary
Nahuatl, Zapotec, Aztec, avocado, guacamole, amole, atlatl, axolotl, black sapote, cacao, cacomistle, chayote and 77 more...
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anais
basket, bag, lettuce, cilantro, lemon, soda, coke, whimsy, water, avocado, hat
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sophasaurus's list
tactile, facilitate, optimum, balk, release, drastic, galore, corrosive, bedevilments, fierce, deliberate, potential and 13 more...
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Fruits
orange, banana, lime, lemon, pineapple, apple, papaya, blueberry, mulberry, cranberry, pear, raspberry and 16 more...
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Gas-Inducing Foodstuffs
Foods that produce flatulence. List title a shameless filching of a fortuitous phrase yarb introduced in his definition of scotch egg. I know everyone has a few foods they avoid at certain times ...
scotch egg, cabbage, chili beans, garbanzo beans, chickpeas, hummus, pickled eggs, rutabaga, radish, jerusalem artichoke, brussels sprouts, cauliflower and 42 more...
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Color Words for Shoes
Vendors can get oddly creative.
amaranth, brindle, iguana, slate black, madder brown, bison, pinecone, seal brown, forest night, burnt orange, monument, beet red and 399 more...
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wanderstar's Words
superlative, mulish, mumps, catatonic, aquiline, clandestine, phantasmagoria, chryselephantine, microfiche, mutineer, reprobate, ruthless and 312 more...
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Groceries
strawberries, baby spinach, black beans, cinnamon, oranges, apples, fstg multigrain t..., olive oil, simply orange juice, tomato sauce, wholly guacamole, salt sense and 115 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
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jagosaurus's favorites
Words I like mostly because of the way they sound and feel.
ticonderoga, petulance, snark, estimable, chickahominy, feline, gezellig, gneiss, shit, willy-nilly, shelter, coda and 366 more...
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spoon
being items relating to food, cooking and the kitchen.
spoon, fork, beef, slice, dozen, eggs, simmer, broil, salad, soup, stock, lard and 287 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for avocado.
milosrdenstvi I experienced it as referring to both. Oct 2, 2010
yarb However I'm not sure whether palta refers to the fruit or just to its flesh, the part that you eat. Oct 2, 2010
yarb palta is the word in most of South and Central America in my experience. Oct 2, 2010
milosrdenstvi In Peru, the word is completely different -- palta. Oct 2, 2010
fbharjo Spanish tried to borrow the Nahuatl word for this fruit, ahuacatl "tree testicle", but found it difficult to pronounce. The Nahuatl word was first changed to aguacate, a word seemingly containing agua "water", but later this word was replaced by avocado "lawyer" (abogado today), a word sharing an origin with English advocate. Oct 2, 2010
madmouth from Nahuatl "ahuacatl"--testicle.
also, ezola--this website says that the Spanish heard 'ahuacatl' as a word they had already, that is 'avocado' (lawyer). the French is no coincidence. Apr 28, 2009
fbharjo perhaps related to bocado spanish for delicacy Feb 4, 2009
ezola Avocado in French is avocat, which also means attorney. Dec 31, 2008
bilby "Having been previously raised by wolves, I'm now learning the little things that only those who are loved get to learn, like how to smile in a photograph and the most efficient way to peel an avocado."
- user NoAffectation, webook.com, 24 Nov 2008. Nov 26, 2008
pterodactyl See comments at aphrodisiac. May 7, 2008