calafate
calafate Lexical Profile
• noun
The small, dark-blue to purple-black edible berry of the Patagonian box-leaved barberry shrub, prized for its sweet-tart flavor and used in jams, syrups, and liqueurs.
"According to Patagonian legend, anyone who eats a ripe calafate is guaranteed to return to the region one day."
An evergreen, spiny shrub (Berberis microphylla) native to southern Argentina and Chile in the barberry family (Berberidaceae), bearing yellow flowers and edible dark-blue berries.
"Low thickets of thorny calafate dotted the windswept steppes of southern Patagonia."
• Rhymes for calafate
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed from Argentine and Chilean Spanish calafate, probably from Spanish calafate ('caulker' or 'pitch'), because the dark sap and wood of the shrub were historically used for caulking wooden boats in Patagonia.
Usage Trend
Historical frequency of usage in published text.