xique-xique

See also: Xique-Xique

English

Etymology

From Portuguese xique-xique.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈʃiːkʃiːk/

Noun

xique-xique (uncountable)

1. A species of tree cactus, Pilosocereus gounellei, of northern Brazil.
   • 1869, Richard F. Burton, chapter 14, in Explorations of the Highlands of the Brazil, volume II:

     At the base of the hill began a thin grove of Xique-Xique […] . This is a tall shrub, with patches of sharp and venomous thorns radiating from common centres.

   • 1984, Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, published 2012, page 12:

     In the corner where he slept, the Little Blessed One gradually built an altar, with printed images they gave him at the mission and a cross of xiquexique wood that he himself carved and painted.

   • 2008, Frances de Pontes Peebles, The Seamstress:

     Each night the men sliced the squat xique-xique cactus into rounds, plucked out its thorns, and pressed down upon the slices with the flat faces of their knives.

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• xiquexique

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌʃi.kiˈʃi.ki/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌʃi.kiˈʃi.ki/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˌʃi.keˈʃi.ke/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˌʃi.kɨˈʃi.kɨ/

• Hyphenation: xi‧que‧-xi‧que

Etymology 1

Onomatopoeic.

Noun

xique-xique m (plural xique-xiques)

1. (music) ganzá

   Synonym: ganzá

Etymology 2

Unknown.

Noun

xique-xique m (plural xique-xiques)

1. xique-xique (Pilosocereus gounellei)

Further reading

• “xique-xique” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913
• “xique-xique” in iDicionário Aulete.
• “xique-xique” in Dicionário Online de Português.
• “xique-xique” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.
• “xique-xique” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
• “xique-xique” in Dicionário inFormal.
• “xique-xique” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.