List of English Words of Spanish Origin - C

C

caballero

from Spanish caballero meaning "knight/gentleman", from caballo, "horse", celtic caballos "horse".

cabana

from Spanish cabaña or Portuguese cabana; both meaning "cabin."

cacique

from Spanish, from Taino cacike or Arawak kassequa, both meaning a chief

cafeteria

from cafetería, "coffee store"

calaboose

from Vulgar Latin calafodium "to dig a protected place" and Louisiana French calabouse, from Spanish calabozo

caldera (used in geology)

from Spanish caldera meaning "cauldron" from Latin caldaria, "cooking pot."

California

place name first seen in print in 1510 Spanish novel 'Las sergas de Esplandián' by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo

camarilla

from camarilla, "small room"

camino

from camino a path or road, from Celtic cammanos "road".

cannibal

from Spanish caníbal, alteration of caríbal, from Caribe

canoe

from Spanish canoa, from Haitian canaoua

canyon

from cañón meaning "a pipe, tube, gorge" from cano, "tube;" ultimately from Latin canna meaning "reed."

carabao

from Spanish from Visayan language kalabaw, from Malay language kerabau.

caramba

from Spanish, meaning "heck"; expression of dread, displeasure, or disapproval, euphemism for carajo

carbonado

from carbonada, from carbón meaning "coal"

cargo

from the verb cargar meaning "to load"

Caribbean

from Spanish Caribe, from name of Carib Indians of the region.

cassava

from cazabe, from Taino caçábi

caudillo

from caudillo, from Latin capitellium "head" meaning "leader"

cedilla

from cedilla, archaic spelling zedilla (little z), "elsewhere"

chaparral

from Spanish, chaparro loosely meaning small evergreen oak, from Basque txapar, "small, short"

chaps

from Mexican Spanish chaparreras, leg protectors for riding through chaparral

chayote

from Spanish, literally: "squash", from Nahuatl chayotl meaning "spiny squash"

chicha

from Spanish chicha, from Kuna chichab, meaning "maize" or from Nahuatl chichiatl, "fermented water."

chicle

from chicle "gum", from Nahuatl tzictli "squishy stuff" or Mayan tsicte.

chile

from Spanish chile, from Nahuatl chilli

chipotle

from Spanish, smoked jalapeño, from Nahuatl chilpoctli

chocolate

from Spanish chocolate, from Nahuatl xocolatl meaning "hot water" or from a combination of the Mayan word chocol meaning "hot" and the Nahuatl word atl meaning "water."

Choctaw

from the native name Chahta of unknown meaning but also said to come from Spanish chato (="flattened") because of the tribe's custom of flattening the heads of male infants.

chorizo

from chorizo, "saussage"

churro

from churro, "fritter"

cigar

from Spanish cigarro meaning "fag, stogie, stogy", from Mayan sicar or sic, "tobacco"

cigarette

from French cigarette "little weed", diminutive of French cigare "stogie", from Spanish cigarro meaning "fag (UK), stogie, stogy."

cilantro

from Spanish cilantro, "coriander"

coca

from Spanish, coca meaning "coke", from Quechua kúka

cockroach

from Spanish cucaracha

cocoa or cacao

from Spanish cacao, from Nahuatl cacáhuatl

cojones

from Spanish cojones meaning "balls, testicles", to denote courage

Colorado

from Spanish colorado, red or colored

comrade

from French camarade meaning "friend", from Spanish camarada, "pal, mate"

condor

from Spanish, from Quechua cuntur

conquistador

from conquistador meaning "conqueror", from conquista, "conquest"

coquina

from coquina, dim. form of "concha" meaning seashell; a sedimentary rock of NE Florida

cordillera

from cordillera, "range"

corral

from corral meaning "pen, yard" from Portuguese curral meaning "pen" of unknown; perhaps ultimately from Afrikaans kraal or from Vulgar Latin currale loosely meaning "enclosure for vehicles."

corrida

a bullfight (literally: "race")

coyote

from Spanish coyote, from Nahuatl coyotl

creole

from French créole, from Spanish criollo, from Portuguese crioulo, raised in the house

crimson

from Old Spanish cremesín, via Medieval Latin cremesinus from Arabic قيرميزل qirmizI, from Persian قرمز qermez kermes; ultimately from Sanskrit कृमिज krmi-ja meaning "worm-made."

crusade

blend of Middle French croisade and Spanish cruzada; both ultimately from Latin cruc-, crux cross

cumbia

from Spanish cumbia, a popular dance (for couples) originating in Colombia, Panama and Argentina