Lime and Lemon (Lima and Limón) in Latin America: A pair that words through a particularly facility relationship.

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| Lee en Español |

English speakers finding out Spanish should become familiar with few of the common vocabulary pitfalls, embarazada and embarrassed being one of the many notorious. These are dubbed false girlfriend - the linguistic - not the human being variety. Likewise known as false cognates, they space words the sound comparable in both languages but do not have actually the very same meaning.

When it involves food a few more concerned mind: Tuna is a prickly pear in Spanish, if tuna fish is atún - although some now call it tuna in Spanish too. Cola is a tail, not a carbonated drink. An abogado is a lawyer, no an avocado. Meringue is suspiro, not merengue, the Dominican nationwide dance.A pair that false friends v a particularly facility relationship is lemon and also lime in Spanish.

Lime and lemon in Spanish

You’d think that in Spanish lemon would be dubbed limón and lime would certainly be lima.

But it’s not that simple.

In an effort to make sense of this, I found that in nations where limes are an ext common – like lot of Latin America - lock are dubbed limones, when lemons room sometimes known as limas. This is the case in Mexico in ~ least. In various other places, prefer the Dominican Republic, limón is used for both lemon and lime.

The common lime consumed in the DR is that the Persian lime variety. The scientific name is Citrus×latifolia. Together lemons (Citrus×limon) are less common, castle are referred to as by the much more descriptive name of limón amarillo.

In Spain, where lemons space much more common than limes, lemons room limones and limes room limas, and also this is confirmed by the actual Academia definitions that define limones together yellow and limas as green.

The beginning of the word "lemon" is thought to be middle Eastern, indigenous the Arabic laymun and also from the Persian limun, the share term because that citrus fruit. The yes, really fruit source in Asia and it is said that Columbus himself carried the first seeds to Hispaniola in 1493.

Lemons space a subtropical/tropical crop, yet they rarely appear in markets and supermarkets in the Dominican Republic. It would certainly be exciting to discover out even if it is this is due to the fact that they can’t prosper here. Maybe it’s simply that no one is cultivating them commercially. Although lemon do have actually a contempt different, softer flavor the goes far better with details things, top top the whole, I choose limes.

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In Dominican cooking, limes are offered in juices choose jugo de avena and also morir soñando, and also in marinades because that chicken and also fish.