sugarcane

American  

[shoog-er-keyn] / ˈʃʊg ərˌkeɪn /

Or sugar cane

noun

1. a tall grass, Saccharum officinarum, of tropical and warm regions, having a stout, jointed stalk, and constituting the chief source of sugar.

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Etymology

Origin of sugarcane

First recorded in 1560–70; sugar + cane

Explanation

Sugarcane is a tall, grassy plant that's used to make sugar. The majority of sugarcane is grown in Brazil. Most of the world's sugar is produced from sugarcane — and in recent years, that's meant a total of about 1.8 billion tons of harvested sugarcane annually. Special factories process the cut cane, extracting sugar crystals from inside its stalks, then evaporating moisture from the crystals to create fine, white table sugar. Other sugar products come from sugarcane as well, including molasses and cane syrup.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

sugarcane

"This year, the initial projections for sugarcane production did not materialise due to unusual weather in some parts and disease in certain varieties," said Siraj Hussain, a former secretary at the federal agriculture ministry.

From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026

Sugar prices slid 5.7% on month, as fewer Brazilian farmers diverted sugarcane to ethanol production, while a weakening of Brazil’s real helped foreign buyers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026

The woman crouches, coaxing the animal with sweet compliments and a stick of sugarcane she brought with her.

From Slate ● May 27, 2026

A new type of artificial saliva, delivered as a mouthwash and made using a lab-modified sugarcane protein called CANECPI-5, could help protect the teeth of patients with head and neck cancer.

From Science Daily ● Apr. 5, 2026

Sitting across from Nasreen Baji in the black town car that afternoon, we drove past cotton fields, orange groves, and sugarcane fields.

From "Amal Unbound" by Aisha Saeed