caatinga

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:

caatinga

Wikipedia

Etymology

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese caatinga, borrowed from Old Tupi ka'atinga, from ka'a + ting + -a.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɑːˈtɪŋɡə/

Noun

caatinga (plural caatingas)

1. A sparse, thorny wooded biome of northeastern Brazil containing drought-resistant trees.
   • 1984, Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, translation of La guerra del fin del mundo by Mario Vargas Llosa, published 2012, page 187:

     He then goes on his way at a steady pace that does not tire him, climbing up slopes or down ravines, traversing scrubland caatinga or stony ground.

   • 2000, David Lewis Lentz, Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations in the Precolumbian Americas, page 426:

     The geological substrate of the caatinga is severely eroded crystalline bedrock of the Precambrian Brazilian Shield and Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary basins.

Translations

sparse, thorny wooded biome of northeastern Brazil

Portuguese: caatinga (pt) f

Portuguese

Portuguese Wikipedia has an article on:

caatinga

Wikipedia ^pt

Alternative forms

• Caatinga, catinga

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Tupi ka'atinga, from ka'a + ting + -a.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.aˈt͡ʃĩ.ɡɐ/, (faster pronunciation) /kaˈt͡ʃĩ.ɡɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.aˈt͡ʃĩ.ɡɐ/, (faster pronunciation) /kaˈt͡ʃĩ.ɡɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ka.aˈt͡ʃĩ.ɡa/, (faster pronunciation) /kaˈt͡ʃĩ.ɡa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐ.ɐˈtĩ.ɡɐ/, (faster pronunciation) /kɐˈtĩ.ɡɐ/

• Rhymes: -ĩɡɐ
• Homophone: (faster pronunciation) catinga
• Hyphenation: ca‧a‧tin‧ga

Noun

caatinga f (usually uncountable, plural caatingas)

1. caatinga (sparse, thorny wooded biome of northeastern Brazil)
2. (synecdochically) the vegetation of this biome
   • 1938, Graciliano Ramos, “Mudança [A New Home]”, in Vidas Seccas [Barren Lives]‎, Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olympio Editora, page 9:

     A folhagem dos joazeiros appareceu longe, atravez dos galhos pelados da catinga rala.

     The juazeiros’ foliage was visible in the distance, through the caatinga brush’s bare branches.

Descendants

• → English: caatinga

Further reading

• “caatinga”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “caatinga”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025