CACAOS pl . of COCOA . Theobroma cacao L is the scientific name given to the cacao tree or cacaotero, native to tropical and subtropical regions of America: Tropical America. Theobroma has Greek origin, and means food of the gods. Cacao comes from Nahuatl, where the tree is called peanuthuitl? and its cacahuatl fruit. This word gave rise to two Nahuatlisms; in the first place, the usual way of writing it in the sixteenth century was cacaoatl, from here it began to be used in an abbreviated form "cacao", and thus it passed into Spanish. The word "cacao" passed into the English language as cocoa, to designate the main ingredient of chocolate (cocoa powder). Then it acquired the meaning of the same chocolate. Only during the twentieth century was cocoa Anglicism popularized as a synonym for 'chocolate powder'.
