cassava

[ kuh-sah-vuh ]

noun

1. any of several tropical American plants belonging to the genus Manihot, of the spurge family, as M. esculenta bitter cassava and M. dulcis sweet cassava, cultivated for their tuberous roots, which yield important food products.
2. a nutritious starch from the roots, the source of tapioca.

cassava

/ kəˈsɑːvə /

noun

1. Also calledmanioc any tropical euphorbiaceous plant of the genus Manihot, esp the widely cultivated American species M. esculenta (or utilissima ) ( bitter cassava ) and M. dulcis ( sweet cassava )
2. a starch derived from the root of this plant: an important food in the tropics and a source of tapioca

Word History and Origins

Origin of cassava¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish cazabe “cassava bread or meal,” from Taíno caçábi

Word History and Origins

Origin of cassava¹

C16: from Spanish cazabe cassava bread, from Taino caçábi

Example Sentences

Starchy, versatile, and nearly indestructible in the wild, cassava is one of the world’s most important tubersIn this country, the question of how to round out a meal of meat and vegetables with a starch usually leads straight to the potato.

From Eater

A lack of awareness is undoubtedly a factor, but cassava also finds itself the target of misinformation and even controversy.

From Eater

While cassava has recently become more visible in this country as an ingredient in health-conscious snacks and plant-based food products, it hasn’t quite found its way onto the average American’s dinner table.

From Eater

This year, he expects to incorporate different products — cassava from Brazil and small, sweet peanuts from Equador — and add more dishes from his homeland.

From Washington Post

You can walk through recumbent, tin-roofed villages pursued by retinues of uproarious children, then up the sides of extinct craters whose inner slopes have been intensively cultivated so that their bowls overflow with coffee and cassava.

From Washington Post

A quick turn at a small stand of banana palms and cassava plants led us to a clearing and, then, back centuries.

From The Daily Beast

When a friend had potato greens for lunch, I traded her some of my cassava leaves.

From The Daily Beast

Sometimes the attacks happen on their way to and from the market or their cassava fields.

From The Daily Beast

Then, a fresh lot of cassava having been procured for the Indians, the journey was resumed.

From Project Gutenberg

It happened to be a season of exceptional drought, and cassava, and food of all kinds, were extremely scarce.

From Project Gutenberg

When a man of note dies his relations plant a field of cassava; just as the Nicobar Islanders plant a cocoa-nut tree.

From Project Gutenberg

They gave him some cassava bread and boiled fish, which he ate voraciously, and soon after left the hut.

From Project Gutenberg

It is the root of a shrub called Cassada, or Cassava Jatropha, and in its crude state is highly poisonous.

From Project Gutenberg