Words from Nahuatl
3 words in Curio passed through Nahuatl on their way into English.
About Nahuatl
Nahuan branch of the Uto-Aztecan family, among the Indigenous languages of the Americas · spoken today
Where
Central Mexico, along the coastline, and in smaller immigrant communities in the United States
When
Speakers
1.9M
as of 2015
Speakers, Wikidata figure for 2015
Family path
- Nahuatl
- SpanishFrench
- English
Where it came from
Nahuatl has been spoken in central Mexico since at least the seventh century AD. It belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family and developed over a very long period alongside other Indigenous Mesoamerican languages. It was the language of the Mexica, whose influence made the Tenochtitlan variety a prestige language across Mesoamerica.
Source: Wikipedia
The words, A to Z
- avocado
A Nahuatl word for a rather personal part of the body, reshaped by Spanish into something else entirely.
- guacamole
This creamy dip's name is literally a description of its two main ingredients, spoken in an ancient Mexican language.
- ocelot
This wild cat's name got its spots reshuffled by a French naturalist's pen.