[mass noun]edible starch which is obtained from a palm and is a staple food in parts of the tropics. The pith inside the trunk is scraped out, washed, and dried to produce a flour or processed to produce the granular sago used in the West 西谷米,西米 ■(亦作 sago pudding)a sweet dish made from sago and milk 西米布丁
(sago palm)the palm from which most sago is obtained, growing in freshwater swamps in SE Asia 西米棕,西谷椰子
Metroxylon sagu, family Palmae 拉丁名Metroxylon sagu,棕榈科 ■any of a number of other palms or cycads which yield a similar starch 出产类似淀粉的棕榈树(或苏铁科裸子植物)
语源
mid 16th cent.: from Malay sagu (originally via Portuguese)