WORD: Ratoon

ratoon [ra-toon]

NOUN 

A sprout or shoot from the root of a plant, especially a sugarcane, after it has been cropped.

ORIGIN

Ratoon “a sprout from the root of a plant” is likely anglicized from Spanish retoño “sprout,” which is based on the verb retoñar “to sprout again in the fall,” from re- “again” and otoño “fall, autumn.” Spanish otoño and English autumn together come from Latin autumnus, which is of uncertain origin, even stumping expert linguists! Among the few proposals are connections to the Etruscan language, to Latin augēre (stem auct-) “to increase,” or distantly to English sere “dry, withered” (compare archaic English sere month “August”). Old English ​​hærfest “autumn” is the source of modern English harvest. Ratoon was first recorded in English circa 1630.

EXAMPLES 

Sugarcane is one of the few crops that has seen an increase in planting area. But across Maharashtra, large fields of sugarcane ratoons—the new cane that grows from the stubble left behind from the previous year—are drying up instead of being nurtured to maturity.

BIMAN MUKHERJI, “IN INDIA'S FARMING HEARTLAND, BARELY A RAINDROP FALLS,” THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, JULY 26, 2012

Giant banana leaves, ratoons of sugar cane and bright orange guavas—set amid a jumble of sheds, trellises, fences and retaining walls—give the hill the look of a rural village carved from jungle.

JOE MOZINGO, “ONE OF L.A.'S OLDEST COMMUNITY GARDENS THRIVED FOR DECADES. THEN THE WATER WARS BEGAN.” LOS ANGELES TIMES, JUNE 4, 2018