biznaga

biznaga (countable and uncountable, plural biznagas)

1. Alternative form of bisnaga (“plant of celery family”).

• IPA^(key): /biθˈnaɡa/ [biθ̬ˈna.ɣ̞a] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /bisˈnaɡa/ [bizˈna.ɣ̞a] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aɡa
• Syllabification: biz‧na‧ga

Inherited from Old Spanish, borrowed from Andalusian Arabic بِسْنَاج (bisnāj), بِسْتِنَاجَة (bistināja), بِشْتِْنَاجَة (bištināja), بِشْتِنَاقَة (bištināqa, “parsnip”), from Latin pastināca (“parsnip, carrot”).

biznaga f (plural biznagas)

1. toothpickweed, khella (Visnaga daucoides (syn. Ammi visnaga))

• → Basque: bisnaga, biznaga
• → Catalan: bisnaga, biçnaga (obsolete)
• → Galician: bisnaga, biznaga, bizniega

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl huitznahuac (“surrounded by thorns”), from huitztli (“thorn”) + nciuac (“near, around”). Influenced by biznaga (Etymology 1).

biznaga f (plural biznagas)

1. (Mexico) any of several species of small, prickly cacti, especially barrel cacti

• Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2019), “bisnaga”, in Dictionnaire des emprunts ibéro-romans. Emprunts à l’arabe et aux langues du Monde Islamique (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, page 252, still referring but to reconstructed Andalusi Arabic “*bis(s)ináqa”, oblivious of the attested forms Corriente, Federico, Pereira, Christophe, Vicente, Angeles, editors (2017), Dictionnaire du faisceau dialectal arabe andalou. Perspectives phraséologiques et étymologiques (in French), Berlin: De Gruyter, →ISBN, pages 143, 145, 146

• “biznaga”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025