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pitaya / pitahaya
Feb. 28th, 2024 07:36 ampitaya (pi-TAY-uh) or pitahaya (pit-uh-HAY-uh) - n., any of several cacti of the genera Stenocereus and Selenicereus, indigenous the southwestern United States, Mexico, and Central America, bearing edible round or oval fruit usually having bumpy skin and juicy pulp filled with seeds; the fruit of these cacti, also called dragon fruit.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
In Spanish, there's a distinction between pitaya as being Stenocereus, which are more sour, and pitahaya as Selenicereus, which are sweeter -- but this distinction is largely ignored in English. Most the fruit cultivated in many tropical regions and sold as dragon fruit are three species of Selenicereus, distinguished by whether the flesh is white, red, or yellow. All three are delicious. Pitaya is a short form of pitahaya, which English got from Latin American Spanish in the 1750s, from a Taíno language. The name dragon fruit is a calque (literal piece-by-piece translation) from a Southeast Asian language -- compare Chinese 火龙果, huǒlóngguǒ, lit. fiery-dragon-fruit). (We first met it in China -- it was The Kid's favorite food aside from steamed buns.)
---L.
Thanks, WikiMedia!
In Spanish, there's a distinction between pitaya as being Stenocereus, which are more sour, and pitahaya as Selenicereus, which are sweeter -- but this distinction is largely ignored in English. Most the fruit cultivated in many tropical regions and sold as dragon fruit are three species of Selenicereus, distinguished by whether the flesh is white, red, or yellow. All three are delicious. Pitaya is a short form of pitahaya, which English got from Latin American Spanish in the 1750s, from a Taíno language. The name dragon fruit is a calque (literal piece-by-piece translation) from a Southeast Asian language -- compare Chinese 火龙果, huǒlóngguǒ, lit. fiery-dragon-fruit). (We first met it in China -- it was The Kid's favorite food aside from steamed buns.)
---L.
