Xanthosoma
|Xan-tho-so-ma|
🇺🇸
/ˌzænθəˈsoʊmə/
🇬🇧
/ˌzænθəˈsəʊmə/
yellow-body → plant genus
Etymology
'Xanthosoma' originates from Ancient Greek, specifically the elements 'xanthos' (ξανθός) meaning 'yellow' and 'soma' (σῶμα) meaning 'body'.
'Xanthosoma' was formed in New Latin as a botanical genus name (combining the Greek elements) and was adopted into modern botanical and English usage to denote this group of Araceae plants.
Initially it literally meant 'yellow body' in Greek, but over time it came to be used as the formal name of a genus of plants rather than carrying that literal descriptive sense.
Meanings by Part of Speech
Noun 1
a genus of tropical American flowering plants in the family Araceae, some species of which are cultivated for their edible starchy corms and others grown as ornamental 'elephant-ear' plants; includes species commonly called tannia, malanga, yautia, or cocoyam.
Farmers in parts of the Caribbean cultivate Xanthosoma for its edible corms.
Synonyms
Last updated: 2025/11/19 08:09