taro

American  

[tahr-oh, tair-oh, tar-oh] / ˈtɑr oʊ, ˈtɛər oʊ, ˈtær oʊ /

noun

• taros
  plural

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.

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taro British  

/ ˈtɑːrəʊ /

noun

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

2. the rootstock of this plant

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• taros
  plural

Etymology

Origin of taro

Borrowed into English from Polynesian around 1770–80

Compare meaning

How does taro compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• malanga vs. taro

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

taro taros

The furthest-flung food mentioned in the buffet of emails I received was Lau lau, Hawaii’s pork-and-fish dish that is wrapped and steamed in taro leaves.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026

“She noticed that a lot of locals were always asking her for ingredients like sweet potatoes and taro, so she started selling fruits and expanded to vegetables,” said Derek Luu, Tran’s son.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2025

The restaurant is famous for its taro ball desserts, grass jelly and shaved ice - treats not normally found on the menu in Yorkshire, but a popular treat for many in Taiwan and surrounding countries.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2024

“It hurts,” said Foster Ampong, 65, who has family members who lost homes in Lahaina and spends much of his time in Olowalu helping other relatives farm taro.

From New York Times ● Jan. 25, 2024

Several hold freshly harvested taro, the plants’ leaves a shimmering green and the corms still dripping mud.

From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila

The magic here is quite clear: stones resembling taros are buried in the taro field to promote the growth of taros.

From An Introduction to the Study of Comparative Religion by F. B. (Frank Byron) Jevons

Our yams and our taros even now are suffering from it.

From The Great Taboo by Grant Allen

It consisted of pigeon, chickens, taros, and yams, but poor Mataafa, who had previously adjourned for evening service, could not share the birds because it was a fast day.

From Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life by Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers

Mark Catesby, in his Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, London, 1781, describes briefly under the name of arum maximum Aegypticum a plant which was doubtless one of the tanyahs or taros.

From Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Joseph Dommers Vehling

Fishing one day a week and cultivating a few yams and taros on another day would supply their food, and the women made tappa for their few garments out of the bark of trees.

From Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life by Margaret Elizabeth Leigh Child-Villiers