avocado: [17] Anyone tucking into an avocado could well be taken aback to learn that in the South American Indian language from which the word originally came, it meant literally ‘testicle’. The Nahuatl Indians named the fruit ahuacatl ‘testicle’ on account of its shape. The Spanish conquistadors took the word over as aguacate, but before long this became altered by folk etymology (the substitution of familiar for unfamiliar forms) to avocado (literally ‘advocate’ in Spanish).
When English borrowed the word, folk etymology took a hand yet again, for in the late 17th century it became known as the alligator pear, a name which survived into the 20th century.
avocado (n.)
1763, from Spanish avocado, altered (by folk etymology influence of earlier Spanish avocado "lawyer," from same Latin source as advocate (n.)) from earlier aguacate, from Nahuatl (Aztecan) ahuakatl "avocado" (with a secondary meaning "testicle" probably based on resemblance), from proto-Nahuan *pawa "avocado." As a color-name, first attested 1945. The English corruption alligator (pear) is 1763, from Mexican Spanish alvacata, alligato.
双语例句
1. The ham is delicious with avocado.
火腿鳄梨非常好吃。
来自柯林斯例句
2. Sprinkle the avocado slices with lemon juice.
将柠檬汁洒在鳄梨片上.
来自《简明英汉词典》
3. The avocado is a valuable food.
鳄梨是有价值的一种食物.
来自《简明英汉词典》
4. The infestation of avocado root rot disease is not visually detectable.
鳄梨树根腐病的感染用视觉是无法探测出来的.
来自辞典例句
5. The avocado shows a typical loss of green color and a reduction in vegetative growth.
