Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A starch made from cassava roots, usually processed as beads or flakes and used for puddings and as a thickening agent in cooking.
  • noun A dish, especially a pudding, made from this starch.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A farinaceous substance prepared from cassava by drying it while moist upon hot plates.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A coarsely granular substance obtained by heating, and thus partly changing, the moistened starch obtained from the roots of the cassava. It is much used in puddings and as a thickening for soups. See cassava.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A starchy food made from the cassava plant used in puddings.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun granular preparation of cassava starch used to thicken especially puddings

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Portuguese, from Tupí typióca : ty, juice + pyá, heart + oca, to remove.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Portuguese tapioca.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word tapioca.

Examples

  • I feel like I am spinning my wheels in tapioca here.

    relevant or orthoganal song lyric here oursin 2010

  • Darlac Province, about a day's walk from Ban Me Thuot, and were held in cages where they had nothing to eat but boiled manioc (a large starchy root from which tapioca is made).

    Benge, Michael D. 1990

  • Darlac Province, about a day's walk from Ban Me Thuot, and were held in cages where they had nothing to eat but boiled manioc (a large starchy root from which tapioca is made).

    Olsen, Betty A. 1990

  • Darlac Province, about a day's walk from Ban Me Thuot, and were held in cages where they had nothing to eat but boiled manioc (a large starchy root from which tapioca is made).

    Blood, Henry F. 1990

  • Although little used by the natives, tapioca is also abundant here.

    Insulinde: Experiences of a Naturalist's Wife in the Eastern Archipelago 1887

  • At the large Chinese village of Rassa, a clever little Sumatra pony met us; and after passing through some roughish clearings, on which tapioca is being planted, we arrived here at 4 P.M., having traveled sixty miles in thirty-three hours.

    The Golden Chersonese and the Way Thither Isabella Lucy 1883

  • It is also available online from Bob’s Red Mill, where it is called tapioca flour, at www.bobsredmill.com.

    Daisy’s Holiday Cooking Daisy Martinez 2010

  • Does anyone know if the tapioca is the pudding or the root?

    Boeuf Bourguignon 2009

  • "Sabudana" or "Sago", also known as tapioca, is produced from pith of Metroxylon and other palms, looks like semi-white unglazed pearls, and is a major ingredient for meals cooked during times of fasting.

    Archive 2007-08-01 2007

  • So, I opted for inexpensive tapioca starch also known as tapioca flour, and agar powder, which is easier to work with than the flakes.

    Archive 2007-02-01 Bryanna Clark Grogan 2007

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • A very memorable word to those that have seen the Tapioca moment on "Whose Line is it Anyway".

    March 14, 2007