Etymology

nixtamal

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Today it means: Hominy; maize kernels which have undergone nixtamalization, that is, hulling and soaking and cooking in an alkaline solution. Full definition →

Mexican Spanish nixtamal ← Classical Nahuatl nextamalli
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The story

  1. Classical Nahuatl · derived fromnextamalli“hominy”
  2. Mexican Spanish · borrowed fromnixtamal
  3. English todaynixtamal

From Mexican Spanish nixtamal, from Classical Nahuatl nextamalli (“hominy”), from nextli (“ashes, lime”) + tamalli (“something wrapped”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.