avocado

American  

[av-uh-kah-doh, ah-vuh-] / ˌæv əˈkɑ doʊ, ˌɑ və- /

noun

plural

avocados

1. Also called alligator pear.  a large, usually pear-shaped fruit having green to blackish skin, a single large seed, and soft, light-green pulp, borne by the tropical American tree Persea americana and its variety P. adrymifolia, often eaten raw, especially in salads.

2. the tree itself.

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avocado British  

/ ˌævəˈkɑːdəʊ /

noun

1. a pear-shaped fruit having a leathery green or blackish skin, a large stony seed, and a greenish-yellow edible pulp

2. the tropical American lauraceous tree, Persea americana, that bears this fruit

3. 1. a dull greenish colour resembling that of the fruit

   2. (as modifier)

      an avocado bathroom suite

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Etymology

Origin of avocado

1690–1700; alteration of Spanish abogado literally, lawyer ( see advocate), by confusion with Mexican Spanish aguacate < Nahuatl āhuacatl avocado, testicle; cf. alligator pear

Explanation

An avocado is a fruit with a thick green skin and mild, creamy flesh. If you've ever eaten guacamole, you've tasted avocado. It might seem strange that an avocado is a fruit, because it's not sweet. Avocados have to be cut open before you eat them, and the hard pit in the middle needs to be removed. The inside of an avocado is firm but soft, a pale green shade. The word avocado is Spanish, from aguacate, and rooted in a Proto-Aztecan word, *pawa, that also meant avocado.

Example Sentences

In December, Wang disclosed during an internal company Q&A that his team was working on two new models, a text-based LLM code-named Avocado and an image-and-video-focused model code-named Mango.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 8, 2026

In Bedford, she was part of the music scene with her band, Duzzy Avocado.

From BBC • Apr. 4, 2026

Heading into Super Bowl weekend, here is some good news: Avocado prices are way down, and that means guacamole will be cheaper than last year.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 7, 2026

Meta Platforms plans to release new AI models: Mango for images and video and Avocado for text.

From Barron's • Dec. 19, 2025

“We could use the brown. The brown is fine. And Avocado is great. Arletta would call it an earthy tone.”

From "Hope Springs" by Jaime Berry