yucca

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun any of several evergreen plants of the genus Yucca having usually tall stout stems and a terminal cluster of white flowers; warmer regions of North America

Etymology

Variant of yuca, sometimes said to be from Kari'na yuca (“cassava (Manihot esculenta)”), but this latter appears to be a ghost word. The word was applied to plants of the genus Yucca (now the main sense), because Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and others confused them with the cassava.

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