What does "aridoamerica" mean?

An ethno-ecological region of Southwestern North America, from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico coast, extending across northern Mexico (including the Baja Peninsula, and spanning from the Gulf of California to the Gulf of Mexico) and the U.S. desert southwest (from California to Texas). It is defined by the use of staple bean Phaseolus acutifolius.

Aridoamerica

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Definitions

Proper Noun

1
An ethno-ecological region of Southwestern North America, from the Pacific coast to the Gulf of Mexico coast, extending across northern Mexico (including the Baja Peninsula, and spanning from the Gulf of California to the Gulf of Mexico) and the U.S. desert southwest (from California to Texas). It is defined by the use of staple bean Phaseolus acutifolius.

Etymology

From arid + -o- + America. Coined by Gary Paul Nabhan in 1985.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.