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Glite Dictionary
Anacardium occidentale

Anacardium occidentale

9.9
A tropical evergreen tree that produces cashew nuts
  • noun
  • /ˌænəˈkɑrdɪəm ɒkɪˈdɛntaleɪ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : Anacardium occidentale
  • The Anacardium occidentale is cultivated in many tropical countries for its valuable nuts.

Examples

  • Farmers harvested the nuts from the Anacardium occidentale before processing them for export.

  • Many people enjoy the cashew nuts produced by the Anacardium occidentale after they have been roasted.

  • The leaves of Anacardium occidentale provide shade in plantations as the trees mature.

  • The Anacardium occidentale tree thrives in tropical climates.

  • What is Anacardium occidentale?

  • Farmers harvested the nuts from the Anacardium occidentale tree before processing them for export.

  • The Anacardium occidentale tree is cultivated in many tropical countries for its valuable cashew nuts.

Synonyms

cashew
vsAnacardium occidentale
4 1.8

A tropical evergreen tree that makes kidney-shaped nuts people roast before eating

is the Latin scientific name for the same species rather than the common name
cashew tree
vsAnacardium occidentale
3.6

A tree in warm countries that keeps its leaves all year and makes curved nuts you eat after roasting

is the Latin scientific name for the same species rather than the common name

Surface Forms

Anacardium occidentale singular
Anacardium occidentales plural

Morphology

Anacardium + occidentale

This is a scientific Latin binomial: one constituent is a taxonomic genus name (a proper noun) and the other is not a familiar English lexical item here, so knowing the parts does not allow a B1 learner to infer ‘cashew tree’. Even if a learner recognised a Latin-derived sense like ‘occidentale’ = ‘western’, that would not transparently yield the common meaning (a tree producing cashews), because taxonomic names are arbitrary and require domain knowledge.

Etymology

Anacardium occidentale comes from old Greek and Latin words: Anacardium means 'up' and 'heart' and occidentale means 'west'. The name points to the cashew nut that hangs like an 'upside-down heart' and to the tree coming from the Americas, so it is the scientific name for the cashew tree that produces cashew nuts.