Home › Words › C › cassavacassava/kəˈsɑː.və/cassava means manioc (Manihot esculenta), a tropical plant which is the source of tapioca.cassava is pronounced /kəˈsɑː.və/.EtymologyBorrowed from Spanish cazabe, from Taíno *kasabi (“cassava flour”) (whence Garifuna sibiba), from Proto-Arawak *sapi.nounManioc (Manihot esculenta), a tropical plant which is the source of tapioca.The root of this plant.e.g.“There was a smell of evening and of coolness after a hot day and a slight scent of peat-smoke that came from cassava being roasted in one of the fishermen's huts in the village away to the right.” — 1954, Ian Fleming, “Passionate Leave”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 242:Tapioca, a starchy pulp made with manioc roots.Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).Words closest in meaningBy meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.mandioca 75% match — manioc vs cassava →mandiocca 73% match — manioc vs cassava →yuca 72% match — cassava vs cassava →mogo 68% match — cassava vs cassava →maniva 63% match — Boiled, ground manioc leaves in South American cuisine. vs cassava →yakayaka 63% match — steamed cassava vs cassava →taro 61% match — Colocasia esculenta, raised as a food primarily for its corm, which distantly resembles potato. vs cassava →balinghoy 59% match — cassava vs cassava →