sugarcane
sugarcane Lexical Profile
sugarcane Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A tall, tropical, perennial grass native to warm temperate and tropical regions of South Asia and Melanesia, featuring thick, jointed stalks that store high concentrations of sucrose.
"The plantation economy of the Caribbean was historically driven by the extensive cultivation of sugarcane."
The harvested fibrous stalks of this plant, used globally as a raw agricultural material for producing commercial sugar, molasses, rum, and ethanol.
"During the harvest season, laborers cut the towering sugarcane by hand using sharp machetes before loading it onto trucks."
Word Origin & Etymology
First recorded in the mid-16th century, formed as a compound of 'sugar' (from Arabic sukkar) and 'cane' (from Latin canna), describing the tall, reed-like plant from which the sweet substance is extracted.