1. A shrubby, edible American plant (Maihot esculenta), grown throughout the tropics, mainly for its very big, fleshy, and starchy roots: "The tuberous parts of the cassava are used as a basic food in the tropics after leaching and drying to remove cyanide."

"After preparing these parts of the plant, the starches of the cassavas are extracted and become the source of tapioca, a delicious pudding."

2. Etymology: from French cassave; from Spanish casabe; and from Portuguese cassave; originally from Taino (Haiti) casavi, "flour from Manioc".