cashew

Etymology

French acajou, from Portuguese acaju, from Tupian acajuba or aka'iu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkæʃuː/
• Homophone: cachou

Noun

cashew (plural cashews)

1. A tree, Anacardium occidentale, native to northeastern Brazil, now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.
   • 2002, P. K. Ray, Breeding Tropical and Subtropical Fruits‎, page 221:

     Soft-wood grafting and veneer grafting are successful in cashew.

   • 2005, Roger Martin, Tree-Kangaroos of Australia and New Guinea‎, page 106:

     Also known as the Native Cashew, it is a member of the Anacardiaceae, the same plant family to which the Cashew and Mango trees belong.

   • 2007, Alice Kurian, K. V. Peter (series editor), Commercial Crops Technology (Horticulture Science; 8)‎, page 63:

     Cashew (Anacardium occidental L.) is an export-oriented crop grown for its nuts, a true drupe.

2. A cashew nut.
   • 1996, Thomas Payne, “17: Nuts”, in Laszlo Somogyi, Diane M. Barrett, Y. H. Hui, editors, Processing Fruits‎, page 529:

     In some countries, cashews continue to be cracked manually although cracking machinery and other shelling mechanisms have been introduced.

   • 2004, Frederic Rosengarten, Jr., The Book of Edible Nuts‎, page 46:

     The bland cashew is a fitting substitute for higher priced almonds to extend the nut texture. In baking, however, almonds are more suitable for cake decoration than cashews.

   • 2010, Dick Logue, 500 Low Glycemic Index Recipes‎, page 413:

     This is a spicy variation of Kung Pao Chicken using cashews rather than the more common peanuts.

Anagrams

• Chewas