Cantera

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word for December 2, 2008

cantera - feminine noun (la) - quarry. Look up cantera in the dictionary

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

[Jessica]

what's a quarry??

[Rusty]

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

Also, the English word is used to mean prey.

[poli]

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

[Elaina]

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?

[poli]

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? Even if it's not the right term, I'm sure it would be understood.

[Elaina]

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

[sosia]

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

[Elaina]

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

I think that would work.

Thanks guys!

[Tomisimo]

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.