mandacaru

English

Etymology

From Portuguese mandacaru.

Noun

mandacaru (plural mandacarus)

1. A cactus, Cereus jamacaru, native to central and eastern Brazil.
   • 1984, Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, published 2012, page 70:

     The thought of vengeance helped him survive the weeks he spent wandering aimlessly about a desert wasteland bristling with mandacarus.

   • 2013, Ardis Stenbakken, Breathe, page 20:

     But a tree—if I can call it that—that draws my attention is the mandacaru, a columnar cactus native to northeastern Brazil.

   • 2006, Graciliano Ramos, “Whale”, in K. David Jackson, editor, The Oxford Anthology of the Brazilian Short Story, page 214:

     But the rest of her body shivered, mandacaru cactus thorns penetrated the flesh that had been half-eaten away by the disease.

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mandaˈkaɾu/ [mãn̪.d̪aˈka.ɾu]
• Rhymes: -aɾu
• Syllabification: man‧da‧ca‧ru

Noun

mandacaru m (plural mandacarus)

1. mandacaru