How to Say "Sugar Cane" in Spanish

caña de azúcar

/ˌkaɲa de aˈθukaɾ/feminine

In Spanish, sugar cane is caña de azúcar.

The term refers to the species of grass whose sap is a source of sugar.

Meaning: species of grass whose sap is a source of sugar (noun)

What does it mean word for word?

The phrase is composed of caña (cane/stalk), de (of) and azúcar (sugar).

To make the phrase plural, you say las cañas de azúcar. Both the noun caña and the article must be pluralized, while de azúcar remains unchanged.

/ˌkaɲa de aˈθukaɾ/

In some regions, caña can also refer to a glass of beer, which is a completely different meaning from the 'cane' in caña de azúcar.
Although it means 'sugar', the root of azúcar is actually distantly related to the Sanskrit word for 'gravel' or 'grit'.
In many Spanish-speaking Caribbean countries, the word caña is often used alone to refer to the plant or the spirit distilled from it.

La caña de azúcar es dulce.
Sugar cane is sweet.
This sentence is useful for describing the taste of caña de azúcar.
Tatoeba #12997379 by ecorralest101, translation #13189645 by ecorralest101
En Cuba se cultiva mucha caña de azúcar.
A lot of sugar cane is grown in Cuba.
This sentence is useful for noting where caña de azúcar is grown.
Tatoeba #2258089 by hayastan, translation #2258088 by _undertoad
La roya de la caña de azúcar arruinó la cosecha.
The sugar cane blight ruined the harvest.
This sentence is useful for discussing how a blight affected the caña de azúcar harvest.
Tatoeba #8958416 by dpcossio, translation #8958417 by DJ_Saidez
En el valle abundan los cañaverales.
Sugar cane fields are abundant in the valley.
¿Quieres una cañita de azúcar?
Do you want a little sugar cane?

Mateo and María are visiting a tropical farm.

Sources

Wiktionary, “sugar cane” translations and entries caña de azúcar, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
Word origins: Wiktionary entries azúcar, caña, de, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.

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