Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Spanish ·1840s (narrow), 1930s (general)
Aficionado
from aficionado — "one who has affection for"
- Meaning
- An amateur enthusiast, especially of bullfighting.
- Source word
- aficionado — "one who has affection for"
- Route into English
- Hemingway's *Death in the Afternoon* (1932) naturalised the word in English. The bullfighting context was lost; the "devotee" sense stuck.
- Arrived
- 1840s (narrow), 1930s (general)
From Spanish
American Spanish, not peninsular Spanish, provided most of the modern loanwords — through US expansion westward and Latin American trade.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.