cactus

From taxonomic name Cactus, a name given in 1752 by Linnaeus for a genus of cacti (now superseded by the genus name Mammillaria), from Latin cactus, from Ancient Greek κάκτος (káktos, “cardoon”), possibly of Pre-Greek origin.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkæktəs/, /ˈkæktʌs/^[1][2][3]
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæktəs/^[4][5]

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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cactus (plural cacti or cactuses or cactusses or cactus)

1. (botany) Any member of the family Cactaceae, a family of flowering New World succulent plants suited to a hot, semi-desert climate.
   • 1895, J[ohn] W[esley] Powell, chapter I, in Canyons of the Colorado, Meadville, PA: Flood & Vincent; republished as The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons, New York: Dover, 1961, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 22:

     On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns.

   • 1960, A. K. Yegna Narayan Aiyer, P. Abraham, Cultivation of Cloves in India (I.C.A.R. Bulletin), New Delhi: Indian Council of Agricultural Research, →OCLC, page 5:

     This was another experimental garden started under Dr. Berry as a ‘Nopalry’ or place for the rearing of the cochineal insect on cacti, which however, became a sort of experimental garden where exotic plants were received as they arrived in the Port of Madras and were nursed and looked after until they could be despatched to the interior stations.

   • 2013, Leslie Morgan Steiner, The Baby Chase:

     Three years later, the unwatered cactus was still about two feet tall, a dark green color. The watered cactus was a paler green, its trunk visibly swollen with moisture. It had grown to be over five feet tall.

2. Any succulent plant with a thick fleshy stem bearing spines but no leaves, such as euphorbs.

In modern English, the term cactus properly refers to plants belonging to the family Cactaceae. With one exception, all are native to North and South America. The sole exception is Rhipsalis, a jungle epiphyte found in tropical Africa, Madagascar, and Sri Lanka, as well as North and South America. Informally, cactus is used to refer to any stem succulent adapted to a dry climate, notably species from genus Euphorbia with forms reminiscent of Cactaceae. These succulents are better described as "cactoid" or "cactiform" unless they are actual members of the Cactaceae.

• (member of Cactaceae): succulent

• (member of Cactaceae): nopal, saguaro

• → Welsh: cactws

cactus (not comparable)

1. (Australia, New Zealand, slang) Non-functional, broken, exhausted, dead.

   Synonym: kaput

   • 2001 July 8, Dave, “TV Problems”, in aus.electronics‎^[1] (Usenet):

     I wouldn't mind throwing it away if it's cactus except for the VCR part which works fine, so then I'd be up for a new VCR as well.

   • 2004 August 25, AC, “water damage ???”, in alt.cellular.nokia‎^[2] (Usenet):

     I would say it's cactus. Water conducts & destroys components & PCBs very easily. Hence the water-resistant phones.

   • 2009, Will Chaffey, Swimming with Crocodiles: An Australian Adventure‎^[3], page 108:

     ‘It′s cactus,’ Rod, the helicopter pilot, said at the sound of the piston ring shattering.

   • 2018, “Fractured”, in Wentworth:

     Michael Armstrong: "Michael Armstrong, I represent Sonia Stevens."
     Sue "Boomer" Jenkins: "Oh, haven't you heard? She cactus."
     Armstrong "Yes, I realize that, and that's a terrible business.

• succulent

• Cactus in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)
• Cactus on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Category:Cactaceae on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaktus/ [ˈkak.t̪us]
• Rhymes: -aktus
• Syllabification: cac‧tus

cactus m (plural cactus)

1. (botany) cactus (member of the Cactaceae)

• “cactus” in Diccionariu de la llingua asturiana (1ª edición). Academia de la Llingua Asturiana (2000). →ISBN.

Borrowed from Latin cactus, from Ancient Greek κάκτος (káktos, “cardoon”), of pre-Greek origin.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈkak.tus]

cactus m (invariable)

1. (botany) cactus (member of the Cactaceae)

• “cactus”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “cactus”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “cactus” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “cactus” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

• kaktus (superseded)

Borrowed from Latin cactus, from Ancient Greek κάκτος (káktos, “cardoon”), of pre-Greek origin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑk.tʏs/

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: cac‧tus

cactus m (plural cactussen, diminutive cactusje n)

1. cactus, plant of the family Cactaceae

   Synonym: cactee

• Afrikaans: kaktus
• → Indonesian: kaktus

• IPA^(key): /kak.tys/

• Audio:

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cactus m (plural cactus)

1. cactus

• Turkish: kaktüs

• “cactus”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

cactus m (invariable)

1. cactus

• cactus in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

• stucca

From Ancient Greek κάκτος (káktos, “cardoon”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkak.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkak.t̪us]

cactus m (genitive cactī); second declension

1. cardoon (Cynara cardunculus)

Second-declension noun.

• Translingual: Cactus
• → English: cactus
  • → Welsh: cactws
• → Czech: kaktus
• → Italian: cactus
• → Greek: κάκτος (káktos)
• → Spanish: cacto
• → Sicilian: cactus
• → Galician: cacto
• → German: Kaktus
• → Portuguese: cato, cáctus, cacto

• “cactus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cactus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Borrowed from French cactus.

cactus m (plural cactuși)

1. cactus

From translingual Cactus.^[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈkaɡtus/ [ˈkaɣ̞.t̪us]
• Rhymes: -aɡtus
• Syllabification: cac‧tus

cactus m (plural cactus)

1. alternative form of cacto

• “cactus”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024