souari

souari

English

a souari tree, Caryocar brasiliense, with green pequi or souari nuts

Wikispecies

Etymology

From Galibi Carib sawarra, via Caribbean French saouari. Attested in English (as souwarrow or saoari) from the 19th century.

Noun

souari (plural not attested)

1. Any tree of the genus Caryocar. They yield strong timber and some bear edible nuts.
   • 1816, George Pinckard, Notes on the West Indies‎, page 189:

     Among a variety of specimens, we collected some fine plants of the Tonquin bean, the Souwarrow nut, the wild orange, and a species of medlar.

   • 1896, Andrew Samuel Fuller, The Nut Culturalist‎, page 280:

     Souari nut, or butternut.—This nut, like the last, is a native of British Guiana, and is the fruit of the Caryocar nuciferum, a noble tree, growing a hundred feet high, having large, broad, trifoliate leaves, resembling those of our common horse-chestnut, but not quite as broad.

References

• saouari, n. in Oxford English Dictionary, 1884–1928, and First Supplement, 1933.