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[–] 59 points 2 years ago* (3 children)

The word avocado comes from the Spanish aguacate, which derives from the Nahuatl (Mexican) word āhuacatl, which goes back to the proto-Aztecan *pa:wa. In Molina's Nahuatl dictionary "auacatl" is given also as the translation for compañón "testicle", and this has been taken up in popular culture where a frequent claim is that testicle was the word's original meaning. This is not the case, as the original meaning can be reconstructed rather as "avocado" – rather the word seems to have been used in Nahuatl as a euphemism for "testicle".

Source: Wikipedia

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  • [–] 32 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    That's a bit of a word salad, but I assume it's just saying that it's a coincidental euphemism. Like if a non-English speaker said "Did you know? The English term melon baller literally translates to breast testicler". It's not like it's a high bar.

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