Etymology

jalapeño

Today it means: A cultivar of hot chili pepper, Capsicum annuum. Full definition →

Mexican Spanish jalapeño ← Spanish Jalapa ← Classical Nahuatl Xalapan
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The story

  1. Classical Nahuatlxalli
  2. Proto-Uto-Aztecan*paC-ta
  3. Proto-Nahuan*aa-tl
  4. Classical Nahuatlatl
  5. Classical NahuatlXalapan
  6. SpanishJalapa
  7. Mexican Spanishjalapeño
  8. English todayjalapeño

Unadapted borrowing from Mexican Spanish jalapeño.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.