![The word avocado comes from the Spanish aguacate, which derives from the Nahuatl (Mexican) word āhuacatl [aːˈwakat͡ɬ],[4...](https://img5.estateagents1.com/608/041/122111381126080417.jpg)
10/25/2023
The word avocado comes from the Spanish aguacate, which derives from the Nahuatl (Mexican) word āhuacatl [aːˈwakat͡ɬ],[42] which goes back to the proto-Aztecan *pa:wa.[43] In Molina's Nahuatl dictionary "auacatl" is given also as the translation for compañón "testicle",[44] and this has been taken up in popular culture where a frequent claim is that testicle was the word's original meaning. This is not the case, as the original meaning can be reconstructed rather as "avocado" – rather the word seems to have been used in Nahuatl as a euphemism for "testicle".[45][46][47]
The modern English name comes from a rendering of the Spanish aguacate as avogato. The earliest known written use in English is attested from 1697 as avogato pear, later avocado pear (due to its shape), a term sometimes corrupted to alligator pear.[48][49][4]
![Domestication, leading to genetically distinct cultivars, possibly originated in the Tehuacan Valley[28] in the state of...](https://img5.estateagents1.com/008/041/122111380190080417.jpg)
