Etymology

nopalery

no·pal·e·ry
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Today it means: A plantation of nopal (a prickly pear cactus of the genus Opuntia, especially Opuntia cochinellifera) used as food for the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), which is raised to produce carmine dye. Full definition →

First used late 18th c.French nopalerie ← Spanish nopal ← Classical Nahuatl nohpalli
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The story

  1. Proto-Uto-Aztecan · derived from[Term?]
  2. Classical Nahuatl · derived fromnohpalli“cactus of the genus Opuntia”
  3. Spanish · derived fromnopal
  4. French · derived fromnopalerie
  5. English todaynopalery

From nopal + -ery (suffix forming nouns indicating places of arts, crafts, or practices), modelled after French nopalerie. Nopal is borrowed from Spanish nopal, from Classical Nahuatl nohpalli (“cactus of the genus Opuntia”), from Proto-Uto-Aztecan [Term?].

Words from the same roots

Spanishnopal all →

nopal

Classical Nahuatlnohpalli all →

nopal

First known use, by meaning

  • from late 18th c. A plantation of nopal (a prickly pear cactus of the genus Opuntia, especially Opuntia cochinellifera) used as food for the cochineal insect (Dactylopius coccus), which is raised to produce carmine dye.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.