Word.ws English Dictionary

nopalery

Syllables: no·pal·e·ry/ˈnəʊp(ə)ləɹi/US/ˈnoʊpəˌlɛri/

nopalery noun: a plantation of nopal (a prickly pear cactus of the genus Opuntia, especially Opuntia cochinellifera) used as food for the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), which is raised to produce carmine dye.

Noun

nopalery (plural nopaleries)

  1. (historical) A plantation of nopal (a prickly pear cactus of the genus Opuntia, especially Opuntia cochinellifera) used as food for the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), which is raised to produce carmine dye.
    • This ſpecies [the wild cochineal] multiplies more readily, ſpreads further and faſter without any aſſiſtance; ſo that a nopalry is ſoon covered with them.1783, [Guillaume Thomas François] Raynal, “Of the Culture of the Cochineal”, in J[ohn] O[badiah] Justamond, transl., A Philosophical and Political History of the Settlements and Trade of the...
    • A collection of these trees [nopal] is called a Nopalery, and the Indians, who cultivate the cochineal, are called Nopaleros.[1815 April, John Clennell, “The Natural, Chemical, and Commercial History of the Cochineal”, in The Tradesman; or, Commercial Magazine, volume V, number IV (New Series), London: J. W. Payne, […]...

Forms of nopalery

pluralnopaleries
alternative formnopalry

Origin of nopalery

From nopal + -ery (suffix forming nouns indicating places of arts, crafts, or practices), modelled after French nopalerie. Nopal is borrowed from Spanish nopal, from Classical Nahuatl nohpalli (“cactus of the genus Opuntia”), from Proto-Uto-Aztecan [Term?].

Questions about nopalery

What does nopalery mean?
Nopalery means a plantation of nopal (a prickly pear cactus of the genus Opuntia, especially Opuntia cochinellifera) used as food for the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), which is raised to produce carmine dye.
What part of speech is nopalery?
Nopalery is a noun.
How do you pronounce nopalery?
Nopalery is pronounced /ˈnəʊp(ə)ləɹi/ (UK).
What is the plural of nopalery?
The plural of nopalery is nopaleries.

Words near nopalery in the dictionary

  1. NOP sleds
  2. NOP slide
  3. NOP slides
  4. nopal
  5. nopaleries
  6. nopalery
  7. nopales
  8. nopaline
  9. nopalito
  10. nopalitos
  11. nopalries

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: nopalery (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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