Etymology

key lime

Today it means: A small yellow (when ripe, usually sold green) lime, of hybrid Citrus × aurantiifolia, especially those from southern Florida. Full definition →

Spanish cayo
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The story

  1. Spanish · borrowed fromcayo
  2. English todayKey lime

From Keys (“the Florida Keys”), from key (“an island in a chain of islands”), variant of cay, from Spanish cayo.

Words from the same roots

Spanishcayo all →

keycaycayo

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.