pitahaya

American  

[pit-uh-hahy-uh] / ˌpɪt əˈhaɪ ə /

noun

1. any of several cacti of the genus Selenicereus and related genera, of the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America, bearing edible round or oval fruit usually having scaly skin and sweet pulp filled with seeds.

2. the fruit of any of several cacti of the genus Selenicereus and related genera.

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pitahaya British  

/ ˌpɪtəˈhaɪə /

noun

1. any giant cactus of Central America and the SW United States, esp the saguaro

2. Also called: dragon fruit.  the edible red pulpy fruit of such cacti, which has a mild sweet flavour

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Etymology

Origin of pitahaya

An Americanism first recorded in 1750–60; from Latin American Spanish, from Taíno

Example Sentences

Their habits are the same as the common dove, both as to food and nesting, though in parts of Mexico it nests in the pitahaya plants—a species of cactus—of whose fruit it is very fond.

From Game Birds and Game Fishes of the Pacific Coast by Payne, Harry Thom

We plucked the pears of the pitahaya, and ate them greedily; we found service-berries, yampo, and roots of the “pomme blanche.”

From The Scalp Hunters by Stewart, F.A.

For a considerable distance a fine slope rose to our left, strewn with loose rock masses, and covered with a growth which was chiefly pitahaya, some of the plants attaining the size of grown trees.

From In Indian Mexico (1908) by Starr, Frederick

On one side of the glade, where the ground was dry and sandy, there stood a small clump of pitahaya cactus.

From The White Chief A Legend of Northern Mexico by Evans, L.

The small river was Bill Williams Fork, and on striking it Onate began to see the remarkable pitahaya adorning the landscape with its tall, stately columns; and all the strange lowland vegetation followed.

From The Romance of the Colorado River The Story of its Discovery in 1840, with an Account of the Later Explorations, and with Special Reference to the Voyages of Powell through the Line of the Great Canyons by Dellenbaugh, Frederick Samuel