taro

[ tahr-oh, tair-oh, tar-oh ]
See synonyms for taro on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural ta·ros.
  1. a plant, Colocasia esculenta, of the arum family, cultivated for its edible tuber: widely distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions, including the Caribbean, the Pacific Islands, Australia, New Zealand, India, and a number of Asian and African nations.

  2. the edible tuber of Colocasia esculenta, a widely distributed tropical and subtropical plant of the arum family.

Compare Meanings

Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.

Origin of taro

1
Borrowed into English from Polynesian around 1770–80

Words Nearby taro

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use taro in a sentence

  • Morton has, among other things, made a couple of nets, and a mortar and pestle for pounding bread-fruit and taro.

    The Island Home | Richard Archer

British Dictionary definitions for taro

taro

/ (ˈtɑːrəʊ) /


nounplural -ros
  1. an aroid plant, Colocasia esculenta, cultivated in the tropics for its large edible rootstock

  2. the rootstock of this plant

Origin of taro

1
C18: from Tahitian and Māori
  • Full name: elephant's-ear, dasheen, eddo, Chinese eddo

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012