A tropical American tree with edible fruit, related to the plum family, native to the Caribbean and Central America.
From Spanish 'hicaco,' which derives from a Taíno (Caribbean indigenous) word. The term came into English through colonial contact and botanical documentation.
The hicaco tree is a perfect example of how colonization created new vocabulary in English—the fruit was so unfamiliar to Europeans that they kept the indigenous Taíno name rather than inventing a new one.
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