Standard Lemma guide

cassava

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /kəˈsɑː.və/
  • General-American: /kəˈsɑ.və/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑːvə

1

noun

Meaning 1

Manioc (Manihot esculenta), a tropical plant which is the source of tapioca.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: yuca

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The root of this plant.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: yuca

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Tapioca, a starchy pulp made with manioc roots.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

any of several plants of the genus Manihot having fleshy roots yielding a nutritious starch

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: casava

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: shrub, bush

Narrower terms: bitter cassava, manioc, mandioc, mandioca, tapioca plant, gari, Manihot esculenta, Manihot utilissima, sweet cassava, Manihot dulcis

5

noun

Meaning 5

cassava root eaten as a staple food after drying and leaching; source of tapioca

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: manioc

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: root

6

noun

Meaning 6

a starch made by leaching and drying the root of the cassava plant; the source of tapioca; a staple food in the tropics

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cassava starch, manioc, manioca

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: starch, amylum

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cazabe, from Taíno *kasabi (“cassava flour”) (whence Garifuna sibiba), from Proto-Arawak *sapi.

Across languages

Translations

148 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Achuar: mama — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Juba Arabic: bafra — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Armenian: հացարմատ (hacʻarmat) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Banyumasan: ꦗꦮꦮ꧀ (jawaw) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Banyumasan: ꦗꦮꦲꦸ (jawau) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Banyumasan: ꦒꦸꦩ꧀ꦧꦶꦭꦶꦏꦪꦸ (gumbili kayu) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Baoule: agba — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Bengali: কাসাভা (kaśabha) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Central Bikol: balinghoy — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Borôro: ju — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Buginese: lame aju — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Bulgarian: маниока (manioka) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Burmese: ပီလောပီနံ (pilau:pinam) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Catalan: mandioca — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Catalan: iuca — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Cebuano: balanghoy — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Chichewa: chinangwa — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Chinese Cantonese: 木薯 (muk6 syu4) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Chinese Mandarin: 木薯 (mùshǔ) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Cocama: yahuiri — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Col: kepar kayu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Ngazidja Comorian: mhogo — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Duala: makwamba — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Dutch: cassave — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Dutch: maniok — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Esperanto: manioko — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Estonian: maniokk — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Ewe: agbeli — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Ewondo: mbong — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Fijian: tavioka — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Finnish: maniokki — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • French: manioc — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • German: Maniok — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • German: Mandioka — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • German: Kassawa — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • German: Kassava — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Gorontalo: kasubi — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Gujarati: East African speakers use Swahili muhogo — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Hausa: rogo — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Hindi: सागू (sāgū) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Hixkaryana: xerye — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Huambisa: mama — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Igbo: akpu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Ilocano: balinghoy — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Indonesian: ubi kayu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Indonesian: ketela pohon — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Indonesian: singkong — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Italian: manioca — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Japanese: キャッサバ (kyassaba) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Javanese: ꦏꦼꦠꦺꦭꦥꦺꦴꦲꦸꦁ (ketéla pohung) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Javanese: ꦱꦶꦁꦏꦺꦴꦁ (singkong) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Javanese: ꦏꦱ꧀ꦥꦺ (kaspé) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Kannada: ಮರಗೆಣಸು (marageṇasu) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Kapampangan: kamuting bagin — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Kapampangan: kamuting dutung — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Kavalan: apaw — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Khmer: ដំឡូងមី (dɑmloungmii) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Khmer: ដំឡូងឈើ (dɑmloungchəə) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Kikuyu: mwanga — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Komering: hubi kayu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Kongo: mandioko — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Korean: 카사바 (kasaba) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Korean: 마니옥 (maniok) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Lao: ມັນຕົ້ນ — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Lingala: nsɔngɔ́ — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Lingala: manyɔ́kɔ — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Lingala: mbala — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Lokono: bosoli — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Lokono: kanaküdi — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Madurese: sabbhrâng — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Makasar: lame kayu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Malagasy: mangahazo — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Malay: ubi kayu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Malayalam: മരച്ചീനി (maraccīni) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Malayalam: കപ്പ (kappa) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Mandar: lameayu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Mandar: kandoha' — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Māori: tapioka — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Māori: kahawa — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Minangkabau: ubi parancih — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Minangkabau: ubi kayu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Minangkabau: singkong — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Mizo: pângbâl — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Nahuatl: cuauhcamohtli — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Ngiti: mɔ᷅kɔ̀ — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Old Tupi: mani'oka — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Paraujano: üi — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Polish: maniok — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Polish: kassawa — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Portuguese: mandioca — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Portuguese: aipim — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Portuguese: macaxeira — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Quechua: rumu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Quechua: yuka — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Quechua: lumu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Romanian: manioc — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Russian: манио́к (maniók) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Russian: манио́ка (manióka) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Russian: манио́т (maniót) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Rwanda-Rundi: inyumbati — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Sangir: bungkahe — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Koyraboro-Senni: bananku — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Soninke: bantara — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Spanish: mandioca — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Spanish: yuca — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Spanish: cashcamote — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Sranan Tongo: kasaba — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Sundanese: ᮞᮙ᮪ᮕᮩ (sampeu) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Swahili: muhogo — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tagalog: kamoteng-kahoy — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tagalog: balinghoy — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tahitian: māniota — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Taíno: caçabi — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tamil: மரவள்ளி (maravaḷḷi) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tamil: மரவள்ளிக் கிழங்கு (maravaḷḷik kiḻaṅku) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tamil: குச்சிக் கிழங்கு (kuccik kiḻaṅku) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tamil: குச்சிவள்ளிக் கிழங்கு (kuccivaḷḷik kiḻaṅku) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tariana: káini — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tetum: ai-farina — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Thai: มันสําปะหลัง (man-sǎm-bpà-lǎng) — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Tongan: mānioke — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Toraja-Sa'dan: dua' kayu — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Trumai: ole — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Turkish: manyok — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Vietnamese: sắn — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Vietnamese: khoai mì — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Waray-Waray: bilanghoy — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Waray-Waray: balinghoy — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Waray-Waray: lagikway — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Wolof: pulloox — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Yoruba: ẹ̀gẹ́ — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Zhuang: moegsawz — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Zhuang: maenzfaex — plant (Manihot esculenta)
  • Achuar: mama — root vegetable
  • Dutch: maniok — root vegetable
  • French: manioc — root vegetable
  • Gujarati: East African speakers use Swahili muhogo — root vegetable
  • Hixkaryana: xerye — root vegetable
  • Huambisa: mama — root vegetable
  • Kikuyu: mwanga — root vegetable
  • Polish: maniok — root vegetable
  • Portuguese: mandioca — root vegetable
  • Portuguese: macaxeira — root vegetable
  • Portuguese: aipim — root vegetable
  • Romanian: manioc — root vegetable
  • Soninke: bantara — root vegetable
  • Spanish: yuca — root vegetable
  • Thai: มันสําปะหลัง (mansămbpàlăng) — root vegetable