Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1550s
Iguana
from iwana
- Meaning
- A large tropical American lizard.
- Source word
- iwana
- Route into English
- Taíno *iwana* → Spanish *iguana* → English via 16th-century Spanish explorers in the Caribbean. One of the first Caribbean animal names to reach Europe.
- Arrived
- 1550s
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.