saguaro

[suh-gwahr-oh, -wahr-oh]

noun

plural

saguaros 

1. a tall, horizontally branched cactus, Carnegiea (orCereus ) gigantea, of Arizona and neighboring regions, yielding a useful wood and bearing an edible fruit: still locally common, though some populations have been reduced.

saguaro

/ səˈwɑː-, səˈɡwɑːrəʊ, səˈwɑːrəʊ /

noun

1. a giant cactus, Carnegiea gigantea, of desert regions of Arizona, S California, and Mexico, having white nocturnal flowers and edible red pulpy fruits

Word History and Origins

Origin of saguaro¹

1855–60, < Mexican Spanish saguaro, sahuaro, said to be < Opata (now extinct Uto-Aztecan language of Sonora)

Word History and Origins

Origin of saguaro¹

Mexican Spanish, variant of sahuaro, an Indian name

Example Sentences

Huachuca base sat another former shipping container, this one occupied by a drone pilot and a camera operator, who pivoted the drone’s camera to scan 9 square miles of shrubs and saguaros for the migrants.

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The road along the U.S. side of the 30-foot border wall here rises and falls like waves in a sea, unspooling past thicket, saguaro and washes left dry with no rain.

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There, Ray and his team used a drought-tolerant blend of grasses for limited lawn areas, while the rest of the property was arrayed with native and desert-adapted plants, including ironwood trees and statuesque saguaros.

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The efforts started in response to former President Donald Trump adding hundreds of miles of border walls that toppled untold numbers of saguaro cactuses in Arizona and passed through the biodiversity hotspot of Baja California.

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The repair dates are mostly since spring, when the flat desert region dotted with saguaro cactus became the busiest corridor for illegal crossings.

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