canaigre
/kəˈnaɪɡri/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Rumex hymenosepalus, a species of dock native to southwestern North America with edible red stems and taproots containing tannin.
American usage; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "The true tannic acids are also widely distributed; […] in roots, as in the Texas plant, a Rumex commonly known as "Cañaigre;" […]"
- "The Commissioner of Agriculture, in his report for 1878, speaking of this plant, says: "The examination of the canaigre, for tannin, shows the existence of a very abundant source of this important material, and gives reason for the belief that the latter at least may soon afford a cheap supply to the arts.["]"
- "The native people of the Southwest have for many years made a very soft, impervious and durable leather by tanning hides with an extract of the roots of the cañaigre, Rumex hymenosepalus."
- "Considerable attention is being paid by the press to canaigre as a plant, the cultivation of which may become profitable in this State, and it seems probable that it may become one of the valuable minor industries."
- "cannaigre or tanner's dock (Rumex hymenosepalus), a plant now being cultivated in the Western States for the production of tannin."
- "Some years ago, when I was connected with the Arizona Experiment Station, some efforts in that direction were being made with a plant grown down in that country called Canigre. That is a plant that grows wild in certain sections of the Southwest, but because of its being a two-year crop and because of the fact that in order to make it productive, a very large amount of water was required, which made it an irrigation proposition, we determined that it would be an unprofitable crop at that time."
Etymology
Possibly from Mexican Spanish canaigre, cañagre, cañaigre, variants of cañagria, from caña agria (“canaigre”, literally “sour cane”), from caña (“cane; reed”) (ultimately from Sumerian 𒄀𒈾 (gi.na)) + agria (feminine singular of agrio (“sour”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eḱ- (“sharp”)).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *h₂eḱ-, canaigre, 𒄀𒈾
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kəˈnaɪɡri/
- British English: /kəˈnaɪɡɹi/
Usage
- American usage
- Uncountable
Inflected Forms
Synonyms
tanner's dock
wild rhubarb