caatinga

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese caatinga, borrowed from Old Tupi ka'atinga, from ka'a + ting + -a.

• IPA^(key): /kɑːˈtɪŋɡə/

caatinga (plural caatingas)

1. A sparse, thorny wooded biome of northeastern Brazil containing drought-resistant trees.
   • 1984, Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, translation of La guerra del fin del mundo by Mario Vargas Llosa, published 2012, page 187:

     He then goes on his way at a steady pace that does not tire him, climbing up slopes or down ravines, traversing scrubland caatinga or stony ground.

   • 2000, David Lewis Lentz, Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations in the Precolumbian Americas, page 426:

     The geological substrate of the caatinga is severely eroded crystalline bedrock of the Precambrian Brazilian Shield and Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary basins.

• Caatinga, catinga

Borrowed from Old Tupi ka'atinga, from ka'a + ting + -a.

• Rhymes: -ĩɡɐ

caatinga f (usually uncountable, plural caatingas)

1. caatinga (sparse, thorny wooded biome of northeastern Brazil)
2. (synecdochically) the vegetation of this biome
   • 1938, Graciliano Ramos, “Mudança [A New Home]”, in Vidas Seccas [Barren Lives], Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olympio Editora, page 9:

     A folhagem dos joazeiros appareceu longe, atravez dos galhos pelados da catinga rala.

     The juazeiros’ foliage was visible in the distance, through the caatinga brush’s bare branches.

• → English: caatinga