Mesquite

//mɛsˈkiːt// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of several deciduous trees of the genus Prosopis found in America, and used as forage, which have long, beige seed and bean pods which may be dried and ground into a sweet, nutty flour.

    "Between these canyons the river has a low but rather narrow flood plain, with cottonwood groves scattered here and there, and a chaparral of mesquite bearing beans and thorns."

  2. 2
    any of several small spiny trees or shrubs of the genus Prosopis having small flowers in axillary cylindrical spikes followed by large pods rich in sugar wordnet
  3. 3
    The wood of these trees, used for smoking food, or charcoal made from this wood.
  4. 4
    Country or land dominated by mesquite trees.

    "Tucson is situated in beautiful mesquite riverbed country, overlooked by the snowy Catalina range."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    An unincorporated community in Imperial County, California.
  2. 2
    A city in Clark County, Nevada.
  3. 3
    A census-designated place in New Mexico.
  4. 4
    A city in Dallas County and Kaufman County, Texas; a suburb of Dallas.
  5. 5
    A ghost town in Borden County, Texas.

Synonyms

All synonyms
mesquit

Example

More examples

"Both peoples lived off deer, small game, rodents, and even insects, but their main food sources were probably plants such as prickly pear cactus, mesquite beans, and pecan."

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish mezquite, mizquite, from Nahuatl mizquitl (“the mesquite tree”).

Related phrases

curly mesquitefalse mesquitegiant mesquite bughoney mesquitemesquite beanmesquite bushmesquite flourmesquite gall midgemesquite grassmesquite gummesquite lizardmesquite looper moth

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