manioca

Noun

manioc (usually uncountable, plural maniocs)

1. (countable, uncountable, usually) The tropical plant Manihot esculenta, from which tapioca is prepared; cassava, yuca.
   • The banana, the most important crop above ground, quarreled with the manioc, the most important underground crop. […] The manioc said that it, the yam, the sweet potato, and others were the ones that fed people and that without them people could not exist.1975, William R. Bascom, African Dilemma Tales, Mouton (De Gruyter), page 86

   Synonyms:

   cassava, yuca

2. (usually) Cassava root, eaten as a food.
   • In the morning, after a frugal breakfast of coffee and manioc - we had to be economical of our stores - we held a council of war as to the best method of ascending to the plateau above us.1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   cassava, yuca

3. (usually) A food starch prepared from the root.

   Synonyms:

   cassava, tapioca