guava (English)

Where does "guava" come from?

The English noun 'guava' has been recorded since 1555[1]. It traveled into English via Spanish 'guayaba'[1], which was borrowed from the indigenous Taíno word '*wayaba'[2].

Open questions

• The Taíno ancestral form '*wayaba' is a reconstructed linguistic form. [1] [2]

Full etymology tree

• guava (English), 'A tropical tree or shrub of the myrtle family, Psidium guajava.'
  • borrowed guayaba (Spanish), 'guava (fruit)'
    • borrowed *wayaba (Taíno)

Ancestors

• guayaba (Spanish)

Cognates and doublets

• guayaba (English)

Descendants and derived words

• Cattley guava (English)
• cherry guava (English)
• Chilean guava (English)
• guavaberry (English)
• guavasteen (English)
• pineapple guava (English)
• purple guava (English)
• strawberry guava (English)

Sources

1. guava (English) - Wiktionary
2. guayaba (Spanish) - Wiktionary

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris