Etymology

maquiladora

M3A1Q10U1I1L1A1D2O1R1A1

Today it means: An assembly plant in Mexico owned by a company from the United States or another foreign country, using cheap local labour and imported components, and which then exports its products to the company's country of origin; also (by extension) similar factories in other countries. Full definition →

First used 20th c.Mexican Spanish maquiladora
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Mexican Spanish · borrowed frommaquiladora
  2. English todaymaquiladora

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish maquiladora, from maquilar (“assemble”).

First known use, by meaning

  • from 20th c. An assembly plant in Mexico owned by a company from the United States or another foreign country, using cheap local labour and imported components, and which then exports its products to the company's country of origin; also (by extension) similar factories in other countries.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.