This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word (http://daily.tomisimo.org/) for December 2, 2008

cantera - feminine noun (la) - quarry. Look up cantera in the dictionary (http://www.tomisimo.org/dictionary/spanish_english/cantera)

Hicimos un recorrido y conocimos una cantera donde sacan granito.
We took a drive and went to see a granite quarry.

what's a quarry??

A hole, usually open to the air, cut to remove stone or minerals.

Also, the English word is used to mean prey.

In Mexico I have heard (mistakenly?) stone refered to as cantera. Cantera rosa, I was lead to believe, is a pinkish sandstone or limestone used in a lot of official buildings in Mexico. At first I misheard as pantera rosa:o

I too have heard the word "cantera" used to describe stone material used in construction. "La casa grande de cantera."

Today I learned the difference!

So what would you call the stone taken from the quarry?

:confused::thinking::?:

You confirmed what I had thought Elaina, quarried stone is cantera.
However, I think this term may be a mexicanismo, because I just checked
RAE and, unlike Mexico, in Spain cantera means quarry but not quarried stone.

I wonder what the usual Spanish term for quarried stone is outside of Mexico. Could it be piedras/baldosas de la cantera?:thinking: Even if it's not the right term, I'm sure it would be understood.

I'll have to check around........

:thinking:

I don't know if a proper word exist for "quarried stone". "piedra de cantera" it's understood.
saludos :D

So maybe people just drop the word "piedra" and call it cantera.

I think that would work.

Thanks guys!

Cantera means quarry, and in Mexico it also means limestone. There is cantera verde, cantera rosa etc. in Mexico, and it is commonly used in sculptures and construction.