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cacao

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

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See also: Cacao

English

Etymology

From Spanish cacao, from Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl. Doublet of cocoa.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /kəˈkaʊ̯/, /kəˈkɑːəʊ̯/, /kəˈkeɪ̯əʊ̯/, [kʰəˈkʰaʊ̯], [kʰəˈkʰɑːəʊ̯], [kʰəˈkʰeɪ̯əʊ̯]
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • (Can we verify(+) this pronunciation?) (particularly: /kəˈkeɪ̯əʊ̯/ is not a listed UK pronunciation in the OED)
  • (US) IPA(key): /kəˈkaʊ̯/, /kəˈkeɪ̯oʊ̯/, [kʰəˈkʰaʊ̯], [kʰəˈkʰeɪ̯oʊ̯]
  • Rhymes: -aʊ
  • Hyphenation: ca‧cao

Noun

cacao (countable and uncountable, plural cacaos)

  1. A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.
  2. The seed of this tree, the cocoa bean.
  3. (rare) Cocoa (hot drink).
    • 1894, Eugene Murray-Aaron, The Butterfly Hunters in the Caribbees, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pages 146 and 242:
      Therefore they left Port à Paix just as the first streaks of gray were appearing in the east, depending on a good hot cup of cacao and a couple of bananas to nourish them sufficiently until they could enjoy the breakfast that Dave would prepare for them at the end of their morning’s share of the day’s trip. […] “Doctor, we always say ‘cocoa’ in the north, but you and all these people where it grows say ‘cacao,’ I notice. How is that?” asked Hal. / “There are four very distinct vegetable growths that have names so much alike that they are constantly mixed in the minds of those who are not botanists or do not know them in nature,” the Doctor began. “These are: Cacao berries, Coca leaves, Coco roots, and Cocoa nuts. […]”
    • 1907 August, C[arl] V[ilhelm] Hartman, “Archeological Researches on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica”, in W[illiam] J[acob] Holland, editor, Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, volume III, number 1, Pittsburgh, Pa.: […] Carnegie Institute, pages 5 and 7:
      Cacao was copiously used at their feasts, being colored with the red seeds of the achiote, or arnotto (Bixa orellana Linnæus), so that it resembled blood. At the festivals an intoxicating beer of corn was also copiously used and the rolled leaves of tobacco were smoked. […] And the Indians, both men and women, continued to drink the above-mentioned beverage, going and coming with it, and in the course of this drinking there were brought large cups of cacao prepared as they are accustomed to drink it.
    • 1993 November, David Drake, The Sharp End (The Hammer’s Slammers Series; 6), Riverdale, N.Y.: Baen Books, →ISBN, pages 170 and 175:
      “I wouldn’t mind something to drink,” Niko Daun said clearly. “You say you’ve got local cacao?” […] He set down the mug of cacao from which he’d been sipping with evident approval.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

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Dutch

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cacao, from Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl.

Pronunciation

Noun

cacao m (uncountable)

  1. cocoa [from late 16th c.]

Derived terms

Descendants

  • Berbice Creole Dutch: kaukau
  • Negerhollands: kwakwa
    • → Virgin Islands Creole: kwa kwa, kwakwa (archaic)
  • → Caribbean Hindustani: kakáu
  • → Indonesian: kakao
  • → Sranan Tongo: kakaw
    • → Caribbean Javanese: kao, kekao
    • → Lokono: kakao
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French

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cacao, ultimately from Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl.

Pronunciation

Noun

cacao m (plural cacaos)

  1. cocoa

Derived terms

Further reading

Italian

Italian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia it

Etymology

From Spanish cacao.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kaˈka.o/
  • Rhymes: -ao
  • Hyphenation: ca‧cà‧o

Noun

cacao m (invariable)

  1. cocoa

Further reading

  • cacao in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
  • cacao in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French cacao; itself from Spanish cacao.

Noun

cacao f (uncountable)

  1. cocoa

Declension

More information singular only, indefinite ...

Spanish

Etymology

    Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl (“cacao bean”). Doublet of cocoa.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): /kaˈkao/ [kaˈka.o]
    • Audio (Spain):(file)
    • Rhymes: -ao
    • Syllabification: ca‧ca‧o

    Noun

    cacao m (plural cacaos)

    1. cacao tree
      Synonym: cacaotero
    2. cocoa bean, cocoa powder
    3. (colloquial) confusion
      Synonyms: desorden, confusión
      cacao mental ― bewilderment, discombobulation

    Derived terms

    Descendants

    Further reading

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