Meaning

noun a starch made by leaching and drying the root of the cassava plant; the source of tapioca; a staple food in the tropics

noun cassava root eaten as a staple food after drying and leaching; source of tapioca

noun cassava with long tuberous edible roots and soft brittle stems; used especially to make cassiri (an intoxicating drink) and tapioca

originFrom French manioc, through Portuguese mandioca, ultimately from Old Tupi mani'oka. Doublet of manihot.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0