When I grew up, peanuts in Spanish were always cacahuates. However, a lot of people call them maní. Is this a regional difference or are people talking about two different things?

@major yes, it depends on the country being maní more common in Latin America. In Spain for example is cacahuete.

@major also, cacahuate is de Mexican spelling. Cacahuete the Spanish. Unnecessary complexity just for free :D

@alexsaezm @major I guess it depends on which part of Spain. Here in Canary Islands we call them «manises» -maní is not used. https://www.academiacanarialengua.org/diccionario/entrada/manises/

@major dictionary to the rescue! https://dle.rae.es/cacahuete

@alexsaezm Oh boy, the answer was more nuanced than I expected. Thank you!

@major it's the same in European vs Québec French -- nobody calls them cacahuètes here (though it will be understood), but arachides.

@alexsaezm @major At least once a week I gotta stop by the gas station and get a package of cacahuates japoneses so good to know I might need to look out for maní

@mnw @major I am curious now to know if there are countries where both terms coexist. I will bet that in Mexico and Spain you will rarely see maní. I know the term mostly because I read Mafalda (an extremely famous around the Spanish speaking world comic strip from Argentina) several times and they use maní.

@mnw @alexsaezm I've often seen maní on peanut butters (mantequilla de maní, which sounds totally weird to me). When I think mantequilla, I think 🧈.

@rvr @alexsaezm Wow. I have not come across manises yet, but my spell checker on android wants to capitalize it. 🤔

I assume maní means peanut whereas manises means peanuts (plural)?

@monsieuricon You know a lot about languages. I'm impressed. So many little *kernels* of knowledge. 😜

@major yeah, I'm a language nerd and proud. :)

(Also, I see what you did there.)

@monsieuricon

@major @alexsaezm

For some reason, I thought cacahuate/cacahuete referred specifically to cashews. I used maní for peanuts. 😂 🥜

TIL that cacahuate comes from the native name "*tlālcacahuatl*".