saguaro

American  

[suh-gwahr-oh, -wahr-oh] / səˈgwɑr oʊ, -ˈwɑr oʊ /

noun

• saguaros
  plural

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.

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saguaro British  

/ səˈɡwɑːrəʊ, səˈwɑːrəʊ, səˈwɑː- /

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

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• saguaros
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of saguaro

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

saguaro saguaros

Hiking through Sabino Canyon beneath towering saguaro cactuses, the empty trails felt vast and lonely.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 3, 2026

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.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2024

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

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 18, 2023

Arizona's saguaro cacti, a symbol of the U.S.

From Reuters ● Jul. 27, 2023

He started drinking the muddy water, then ripped a saguaro cactus out of the ground and chewed it, needles and all.

From "The Titan's Curse" by Rick Riordan

Dozens of cars, some with their trunks opened to display camera equipment, were parked in the shadows of 30-foot saguaros.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026

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.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 15, 2025

“Since 2020, we have had elevated mortality in our population of saguaros compared to mortality rates pre-2020,” said Kimberlie McCue, the garden’s chief science officer.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 2, 2023

The pipeline would require ripping out countless saguaros.

From New York Times ● Jun. 10, 2023

The desert seems to be a brown wasteland of dry, prickly scrub whose only purpose is to serve as a setting for the majestic saguaros.

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli

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