7 words in the English language you didn’t know came from Nahuatl

Most people are familiar with the fact that a lot of English is composed of words of Germanic or French origin, but did you know the following words come from Nahuatl?

If you’ve never heard about Nahuatl before, it belongs to the Uto-Aztecan family of languages and boasts about 1.5 million native speakers of its different varieties. Most of these people live in central Mexico.

Here’s a list of a few words that originally came from this language:

1. coyote: The name comes from coyotl, which is the Nahuatl term for the same animal.
   source
2. tomato: This one originates from tomatl, or "the swelling fruit", from tomanna, "to swell".
   
3. chili: That is exactly how Nahuatl speakers named the peppers, chilli.
   © Tomas Castelazo, www.tomascastelazo.com / Wikimedia Commons
4. chocolate: This gift from the gods, or xocolatl, might be composed of xocolia, which means "to make bitter" ,and atl, "water." Chocolate would originally be the name of a bitter drink that can still be found in the south and other central parts of Mexico. © André Karwath
5. cacao: Actually derived from cacaua, it is the root form of the name for the cacao bean itself, which is cacahuatl.
   source
6. avocado: Ultimately derived from ahuakatl, its Nahuatl name. You should know however, that this term colloquially refers to 'testicle' in areas where Nahuatl is spoken! source
7. guacamole: From ahuaca-molli literally "avocado sauce."
   source

BONUS

Do you know what an axolotl is? It's an amphibian with uncanny anthropomorphic facial features

source

Its name comes from atl, "water", and xolotl, or "slippery or wrinkled one, servant", so overall axolotl means "servant of water".

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I hope this posts reminded you of how we are all interconnected across eras and geographies!

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SOURCES
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahuatl
• https://www.vocabulary.com/lists/454491