caatinga

Borrowed from Portuguese caatinga, from Old Tupi ka'atinga.

• IPA^(key): /kɑːˈtɪŋɡə/

caatinga (plural caatingas)

1. A sparse, thorny wooded area of northeastern Brazil containing drought-resistant trees.
   • 1984, Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, 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.

• catinga

From Old Tupi ka'atinga.

caatinga f (plural caatingas)

1. caatinga (sparse, thorny wooded area of northeastern Brazil)