Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1600s
Chocolate
from xocolātl (Nahuatl)
- Meaning
- A bitter cacao-and-chili drink of the Aztec court.
- Source word
- xocolātl (Nahuatl)
- Route into English
- Nahuatl → Spanish → French → English. The drink was a ritual beverage; English adopted both the word and the practice of sweetening it.
- Arrived
- 1600s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.