zanahoria (Spanish)
Where does "zanahoria" come from?
The Spanish word for carrot, zanahoria, traces its roots back to the Ancient Greek phrase 'staphulínē agría,' which translates to 'wild carrot.' This term was adopted into Arabic as 'ʔisfanāriyya' and eventually made its way into Andalusian Arabic. It then entered Old Spanish as 'çanahoria' before evolving into the modern term that displaced the original Latin word 'carōta' across the Iberian Peninsula.
Full etymology tree
- zanahoria (Spanish), 'carrot (root vegetable, usually orange)'
- inherited çanahoria (Old Spanish), 'carrot'
- borrowed سَفُنَّارْيَة (safunnārya) (Andalusian Arabic)
- derived إِسْفَنَارِيَّة (ʔisfanāriyya) (Arabic)
- borrowed σταφυλίνη ἀγρία (staphulínē agría) (Ancient Greek)
- compound σταφυλίνη (staphulínē) (Ancient Greek)
- derived σταφυλή (stăphŭlḗ) (Ancient Greek), 'bunch of grapes'
- suffix -ῖνος (-înos) (Ancient Greek), 'alternative form of -ῐνος (-ĭnos)'
- compound ἀγρία (agría) (Ancient Greek), 'inflection of ἄγριος (ágrios):'
- inherited ἄγριος (ágrios) (Ancient Greek), 'Living in the open fields'
- derived ἀγρός (agrós) (Ancient Greek), 'field, land, countryside'
- inherited *h₂éǵr̥yos (Proto-Indo-European), 'campestral, field (attributive), of or relating to fields'
- suffix -ιος (-yos) (Ancient Greek), 'Suffix added to nouns or adjectives, forming adjectives: pertaining to, belonging to ("of").'
- derived ἀγρός (agrós) (Ancient Greek), 'field, land, countryside'
- inherited ἄγριος (ágrios) (Ancient Greek), 'Living in the open fields'
- compound σταφυλίνη (staphulínē) (Ancient Greek)
- borrowed σταφυλίνη ἀγρία (staphulínē agría) (Ancient Greek)
- derived إِسْفَنَارِيَّة (ʔisfanāriyya) (Arabic)
- borrowed سَفُنَّارْيَة (safunnārya) (Andalusian Arabic)
- inherited çanahoria (Old Spanish), 'carrot'
Ancestors
- çanahoria (Old Spanish)
Cognates and doublets
- zafanoria (Aragonese)
- zanahoria (Asturian)
- azenario (Basque)
- safanòria (Catalan)
- cenoria (Galician)
- سفنارية (Libyan Arabic)
- zunnarija (Maltese)
- cenoura (Portuguese)
Descendants and derived words
- sanahorya (Cebuano)
- Zanoria (Cebuano)
- zanahoria (Fala)
- sanoria (Mezquital Otomi)
- sanawrya (Quechua)
- zanahoria blanca (Spanish)
- zanahoria silvestre (Spanish)
- asanorya (Tagalog)
- sanaúria (Tetelcingo Nahuatl)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris