The story
- Ancient Greekκάκτος (káktos)
- Latincactus
- English todaycactus
From taxonomic name Cactus, a name given in 1752 by Linnaeus for a genus of cacti (now superseded by the genus name Mammillaria), from Latin cactus, from Ancient Greek κάκτος (káktos, “cardoon”), possibly of Pre-Greek origin.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.