yuca

• yuka

Via Spanish yuca (also historically juca), frequently said to be of Taíno origin.^[1][2][3] While the word is almost certainly from an indigenous American language, the source is not known.^[4] Perhaps from Kari'na yuca (“cassava”) (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?), but this appears to be a ghost word. Doublet of yucca.

yuca (countable and uncountable, plural yucas)

1. Cassava
2. cassava root
   • 2014, Marlon James, A Brief History of Seven Killings, Oneworld Publications (2015), page 485:

     She spooned out yuca into what I assume was my plate, and chorizo from a red frying pan.

Do not confuse this plant with yucca.

• yucca

Borrowed from Taíno.

• Rhymes: -uka
• Syllabification: yu‧ca

yuca f (plural yucas)

1. yucca plant
2. cassava

yuca m or f (masculine and feminine plural yuca or yucas) (colloquial)

1. (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru) difficult, hard, often serious.

   Synonym: difícil

   Ella está pasando por un problema muy yuca justo ahora.

   She's going through a very difficult problem right now.

2. (El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras) strict, severe in discipline.

   Synonym: estricto

   La maestra suele ser bien yuca con sus clases.

   The teacher tends to be very strict with her classes.

3. (El Salvador) smart and skillful.

   Synonyms: inteligente, habilidoso

   Ese chico es muy yuca para las matemáticas.

   That boy is so smart (skillfull) at mathematics.

• → Bulgarian: ю́ка (júka)

• “yuca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28
• “yuca” in Diccionario de americanismos, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, 2010