saguaro · noun — carnegiea gigantea, a large cactus native to the Sonoran Desert and characterized by its "arms".
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
saguaro is pronounced /səˈ(ɡ)wɑɹoʊ/.
Why “saguaro” is a great word
A massive, branching, columnar cactus, Carnegiea gigantea, that defines the Sonoran Desert skyline. From Mexican Spanish 'saguaro', from a Taracahitic Uto-Aztecan language, probably Yaqui, Mayo, or Opata; first attested in English in 1856. Unlike the sprawling, pad-jointed prickly pear or the solitary, stout barrel cactus, the saguaro is an upright, patient architect of its own silhouette. It is a ribbed sentinel hoarding monsoon rain, a candelabra of white blossoms that bats pollinate, and a gnarled wooden skeleton that outlives its own green flesh—a monument to endurance in a landscape where time is measured not in years, but in droughts.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From Mexican Spanish saguaro, from a Taracahitic Uto-Aztecan language, probably Yaqui, Mayo or Opata.
noun
- Carnegiea gigantea, a large cactus native to the Sonoran Desert and characterized by its "arms".e.g.“The Suwarrow or Saguaro of the natives.” — 1858, George Engelmann, Cactaceae of the Boundary, C. giganteus, page 42:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- cardon 58% match — Any of several large columnar cacti mostly of the genus Cereus. vs saguaro →
- cactusy 54% match — Cactuslike, prickly. vs saguaro →
- pitaya 53% match — Certain cactuses native to the Americas, of genera Selenicereus or Stenocereus, especially the latter. vs saguaro →
- cactuslike 52% match — Having characteristics of a cactus vs saguaro →
- bisagre 51% match — A small spiny cactus of Mexico and the southwest United States that is sometimes cut into slices and candied. vs saguaro →
- cactoid 51% match — A member of the cactus subfamily Cactoideae. vs saguaro →
- sequoia 50% match — Sequoiadendron giganteum, a coniferous evergreen tree formerly in the genus Sequoia, now placed in Sequoiadendron. vs saguaro →
- sabino 49% match — Any of various trees:; bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). vs saguaro →