Cacaotier
/ka.ka.o.tje/noun
A cacao tree, especially the tree cultivated for its cocoa beans.
Did you know?In the Aztec world, cacao beans were used as currency, making the plant behind chocolate part of an actual monetary system.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian era
Nahuatl
cacahuatl
“Cacao or cacao bean; the source of the later Spanish word cacao.”
16th Century
Spanish
cacao
“Cacao, adopted into Spanish during contact with Mesoamerica.”
16th Century
French
cacao
“Cacao; borrowed from Spanish.”
Modern French
French
cacaotier
“Cacao tree, formed from cacao with the agent/tree-forming suffix -ier.”
Modern English
English loanword
cacaotier
“A cacao tree, used chiefly in specialized or translated contexts.”