English
alligator pear
Alligator pear may come from Spanish aguacate ‘avocado (fruit)’.
- Spanishc. 1500–presentaguacate‘avocado (fruit)’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1919alligator pear
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Spanishc. 1500–presentaguacate‘avocado (fruit)’uncertain
- Englishearliest quotation 1919alligator pear
Earliest quotation: 1919, William Somerset Maugham, chapter 52: “There was a tree just behind which bore alligator…”
The story
The "alligator" is likely an alteration of Spanish aguacate, perhaps influenced by the similarity in texture between the skin of the fruit and of an alligator.
Every English word from Spanish aguacate
Today it means
noun An avocado.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Spanish aguacate / alligator pear