Xoconostle
/ˌʃokoˈnostle/noun
A sour, edible fruit of certain prickly pear cacti, especially in Mexican cuisine.
Did you know?Xoconostle comes from Nahuatl, where xococ means “sour” and nochtli means “prickly pear,” so the word itself is a tiny linguistic recipe preserved from pre-Columbian Mexico.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Nahuatl
Nah
xococ nochtli
“sour prickly pear”
Post-Classic Mesoamerica
Nah
xoconostli
“a sour species of prickly pear cactus fruit”
16th–17th Century
Spanish
xoconostle
“borrowed Nahuatl term for the sour cactus fruit”
Modern English
English
xoconostle
“the edible sour fruit of certain prickly pear cacti”