jojoba

English

Jojoba leaves and fruit

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish jojoba, from O'odham hohowi.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /həˈhəʊbə/, /həʊˈhəʊbə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /hoʊˈhoʊbə/, /həˈhoʊbə/, enPR: hō-hōʹbə, hə-hōʹbə

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: jo‧jo‧ba

Noun

jojoba (plural jojobas)

1. A shrub native to the southwestern United States and to Mexico, Simmondsia chinensis: the only plant known to store liquid wax in its seed.
   • 1998, Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents, HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP (2019), page 195:

     The ground was bad – rocky and hard. That was why we used it for jojoba plants. The plants are tough. They donʼt need much.

Synonyms

• (Simmondsia chinensis): goat nut, deer nut, pignut, wild hazel, quinine nut, coffeeberry, gray box bush

Derived terms

• jojoba ester
• jojoba oil

Translations

Simmondsia chinensis

• Bulgarian: жожоба f (žožoba)
• French: jojoba (fr) m
• German: Jojoba f
• Portuguese: jojoba (pt) f
• Spanish: jojoba f

See also

• jujube

References

• jojoba on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Simmondsia chinensis on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category:Simmondsia chinensis on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from O'odham hohowi. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /xoˈxoba/ [xoˈxo.β̞a]
• Rhymes: -oba
• Syllabification: jo‧jo‧ba

Noun

jojoba f (plural jojobas)

1. jojoba (plant)
   • 1816, Agustín Pomposo Fernández de San Salvador, Los jesuitas quitados y restituidos al mundo:

     […] la Jojoba estimable por su eficacia para curar la supresion de orina y las heridas, facilitar el parto, y su azeyte poderoso contra el cancer, no dá fruto sino el año que en invierno cae alguna gran lluvia […]

     The jojoba [is] esteemed because of its efficacy in curing urine lack and wounds, and facilitating birth, and its oil is strong against cancer, and it does not give fruits if not in spring some great rain fell.

Descendants

• → English: jojoba

Further reading

• “jojoba”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
• jojoba on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es