Standard Lemma guide

tapioca

noun · 3 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: /tæpiˈoʊkə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A starchy food made from the cassava plant, used in puddings.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cassava, manioc

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The cassava plant, Manihot esculenta, from which tapioca is derived; manioc.

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

3

noun

Meaning 3

granular preparation of cassava starch used to thicken especially puddings

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: foodstuff, food product

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese tapioca, from Old Tupi tapi'oka.

Across languages

Translations

51 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: տապիոկա (tapioka) — starchy food from cassava
  • Belarusian: тапіёка (tapijóka) — starchy food from cassava
  • Bengali: ট্যাপিওকা (ṭêpiōka) — starchy food from cassava
  • Burmese: သာဂူ (sagu) — starchy food from cassava
  • Chinese Mandarin: 木薯澱粉 /木薯淀粉 — starchy food from cassava
  • Czech: tapioka — starchy food from cassava
  • Central Dusun: mundok — starchy food from cassava
  • Dutch: tapioca — starchy food from cassava
  • Esperanto: tapioko — starchy food from cassava
  • Finnish: tapioka — starchy food from cassava
  • French: couac — starchy food from cassava
  • French: tapioca — starchy food from cassava
  • German: Tapioka — starchy food from cassava
  • Greek: ταπιόκα (tapióka) — starchy food from cassava
  • Hindi: साबूदाना (sābūdānā) — starchy food from cassava
  • Hungarian: tápióka — starchy food from cassava
  • Indonesian: tapioka — starchy food from cassava
  • Indonesian: kanji — starchy food from cassava
  • Interlingua: tapioca — starchy food from cassava
  • Irish: taipióca — starchy food from cassava
  • Italian: tapioca — starchy food from cassava
  • Japanese: タピオカ (tapioka) — starchy food from cassava
  • Coastal Kadazan: mundok — starchy food from cassava
  • Korean: 타피오카 (tapioka) — starchy food from cassava
  • Malay: ubi kayu — starchy food from cassava
  • Malay: kaspe — starchy food from cassava
  • Malay: singkong — starchy food from cassava
  • Malay: sampa — starchy food from cassava
  • Malay: ubi sampa — starchy food from cassava
  • Malay: ubi jenderal — starchy food from cassava
  • Malay: ubi perancis — starchy food from cassava
  • Maltese: tapjoka — starchy food from cassava
  • Māori: tapioka — starchy food from cassava
  • Marathi: साबुदाणा (sābudāṇā) — starchy food from cassava
  • Polish: tapioka — starchy food from cassava
  • Portuguese: tapioca — starchy food from cassava
  • Portuguese: polvilho — starchy food from cassava
  • Romanian: tapiocă — starchy food from cassava
  • Russian: тапио́ка (tapióka) — starchy food from cassava
  • Spanish: tapioca — starchy food from cassava
  • Sundanese: sampeu — starchy food from cassava
  • Sundanese: singkong — starchy food from cassava
  • Swedish: tapioka — starchy food from cassava
  • Tagalog: tapyoka — starchy food from cassava
  • Tamil: ஆளுவல்லி (āḷuvalli) — starchy food from cassava
  • Telugu: కర్రపెండలం (karrapeṇḍalaṁ) — starchy food from cassava
  • Thai: แป้งมันสําปะหลัง (bpâengman sămbpàlăng) — starchy food from cassava
  • Thai: แป้งมัน (bpɛ̂ɛng-man) — starchy food from cassava
  • Turkish: tapyoka — starchy food from cassava
  • Ukrainian: тапіо́ка (tapióka) — starchy food from cassava
  • Vietnamese: bột báng — starchy food from cassava