Dictionary

cacao en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /kəˈkɑː.əʊ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /kəˈkeɪ.əʊ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /kəˈkɑ.oʊ/ (General-American)
• /kəˈkaʊ/ (General-American)
• /kəˈkaʊ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /kəˈkeɪ.oʊ/ (General-American)

Etymology

From Spanish cacao, from Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl. Doublet of cocoa.

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) A tree, Theobroma cacao, whose seed is used to make chocolate.
2. (countable, uncountable) The seed of this tree, the cocoa bean.
3. (countable, rare, uncountable) Cocoa (hot drink).
   • Therefore they left Port à Paix just as the first streaks of gray were appearing in the east, depending on a good hot cup of cacao and a couple of bananas to nourish them sufficiently until they could enjoy the breakfast that Dave would prepare for them at the end of their morning’s share of the day’s trip. […] “Doctor, we always say ‘cocoa’ in the north, but you and all these people where it grows say ‘cacao,’ I notice. How is that?” asked Hal. / “There are four very distinct vegetable growths that have names so much alike that they are constantly mixed in the minds of those who are not botanists or do not know them in nature,” the Doctor began. “These are: Cacao berries, Coca leaves, Coco roots, and Cocoa nuts.[…]” 1894, Eugene Murray-Aaron, The Butterfly Hunters in the Caribbees, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, pages 146 and 242:
   • “I wouldn’t mind something to drink,” Niko Daun said clearly. “You say you’ve got local cacao?” […] He set down the mug of cacao from which he’d been sipping with evident approval. 1993 November, David Drake, The Sharp End (The Hammer’s Slammers Series; 6), Riverdale, N.Y.: Baen Books, →ISBN, pages 170 and 175:
   • Cacao was copiously used at their feasts, being colored with the red seeds of the achiote, or arnotto (Bixa orellana Linnæus), so that it resembled blood. At the festivals an intoxicating beer of corn was also copiously used and the rolled leaves of tobacco were smoked. […] And the Indians, both men and women, continued to drink the above-mentioned beverage, going and coming with it, and in the course of this drinking there were brought large cups of cacao prepared as they are accustomed to drink it. 1907 August, C[arl] V[ilhelm] Hartman, “Archeological Researches on the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica”, in W[illiam] J[acob] Holland, editor, Memoirs of the Carnegie Museum, volume III, number 1, Pittsburgh, Pa.: […] Carnegie Institute, pages 5 and 7:

Forms

Deriveds

cacao butter · cacao bean · cacaine · Cacao yellow mosaic virus

Relateds

crème de cacao · cocoa

Translations (114)

et kakaopuu (Theobroma cacao tree) · sv kakaoträd (Theobroma cacao tree) · vi ca-cao (Theobroma cacao tree) · nl cacaoboon (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ca cacau (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · es cacao (Theobroma cacao tree) · lt kakavmedis (Theobroma cacao tree) · el κακάο (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ckb کاکاو (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · pt cacau (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · uk какао (Theobroma cacao tree) · cs kakaovník (Theobroma cacao tree) · is kakó (Theobroma cacao tree) · bg кака́о (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · es cacao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ko 카카오 (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · maq hndyu (Theobroma cacao tree) · id kakao (Theobroma cacao tree) · nah cacahua (Theobroma cacao tree) · ja カカオ (Theobroma cacao tree) · gl cacao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ar شَجَرَة اَلْكَاكَاو (Theobroma cacao tree) · nn kakaotre (Theobroma cacao tree) · es cacaotero (Theobroma cacao tree) · nb kakaotre (Theobroma cacao tree) · ru кака́о (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · zpq zgüiaꞌ (Theobroma cacao tree) · fi kaakaopuu (Theobroma cacao tree) · ln kaukau (Theobroma cacao tree) · bg кака́ово дърво́ (Theobroma cacao tree) · ro arbore-de-cacao (Theobroma cacao tree) · vi cacao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · nan-hbl chi-ku-la̍t-châng (Theobroma cacao tree) · sv kakaoböna (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · eo kakaoarbo (Theobroma cacao tree) · de Kakaobaum (Theobroma cacao tree) · lv kakao (Theobroma cacao tree) · vi ca-cao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ms koko (Theobroma cacao tree) · nci cacahuatl (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ban punyan coklat (Theobroma cacao tree) · eo kakaarbo (Theobroma cacao tree) · ceb kakaw (Theobroma cacao tree) · ht kakaoye (Theobroma cacao tree) · sq kakao (Theobroma cacao tree) · ga crann cócó (Theobroma cacao tree) · nl cacaoboom (Theobroma cacao tree) · nhn cacahuatl (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · sh какаовац (Theobroma cacao tree) · hsb kakawowc (Theobroma cacao tree) · sv kakao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · akl kakaw (Theobroma cacao tree) · sv kakao (Theobroma cacao tree) · kn ಕೋಕೋ (Theobroma cacao tree) · de Kakao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · lt kakava (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · fr cacaoyer (Theobroma cacao tree) · yrl kakáu (Theobroma cacao tree) · ca cacauer (Theobroma cacao tree) · ko 카카오 (Theobroma cacao tree) · ca cacau (Theobroma cacao tree) · el κακάο (Theobroma cacao tree) · pt cacaueiro (Theobroma cacao tree) · tl kakaw (Theobroma cacao tree) · ja カカオ (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · eo kakao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · gl cacao (Theobroma cacao tree) · yi קאַקאַאָ בוים (Theobroma cacao tree) · bcl kakaw (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · sh kakaovac (Theobroma cacao tree) · nhg cacahuatl (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · cs kakaový bob (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · da kakaobønne (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ga síol cócó (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · he קָקָאוֹ (Theobroma cacao tree) · fa کاکائو (Theobroma cacao tree) · gu કોકો (Theobroma cacao tree) · hy կակաո (Theobroma cacao tree) · ka კაკაო (Theobroma cacao tree) · hu kakaófa (Theobroma cacao tree) · nap cacavo (Theobroma cacao tree) · uz kakao (Theobroma cacao tree) · cmn 可可豆 (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · fr fève de cacao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ro cacao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ur کوکو (Theobroma cacao tree) · fi kaakaopapu (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ru кака́о (Theobroma cacao tree) · zai biziaa (Theobroma cacao tree) · qu kakawa k'aspi (Theobroma cacao tree) · bcl kakaw (Theobroma cacao tree) · it cacao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · hu kakaóbab (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · vi cacao (Theobroma cacao tree) · da kakao (Theobroma cacao tree) · yua kakaw (Theobroma cacao tree) · it cacao (Theobroma cacao tree) · tr kakao (Theobroma cacao tree) · cy coed cacao (Theobroma cacao tree) · ar كَاكَاو (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · tr Hint bademi (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · el κακαόδεντρο (Theobroma cacao tree) · lac kʌkow (Theobroma cacao tree) · tr kakao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · ml കൊക്കോ (Theobroma cacao tree) · cy ffa cacao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · cmn 可可樹 /可可树 (Theobroma cacao tree) · la cacao (Theobroma cacao tree) · pl kakao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · to koko (Theobroma cacao tree) · kn ಕೋಕೋ (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · sk kakaovník (Theobroma cacao tree) · sk kakao (Theobroma cacao seed — see also cocoa bean) · pl kakaowiec (Theobroma cacao tree)