Etymology

tomatillo

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Today it means: A plant of the nightshade family originating in Mexico, Physalis philadelphica, cultivated for its tomato-like green to green-purple fruit surrounded by a thin papery skin. Full definition →

Spanish tomatillo ← Classical Nahuatl tomatl
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The story

  1. Classical Nahuatl · derived fromtomatl
  2. Spanish · borrowed fromtomatillo
  3. English todaytomatillo

Borrowed from Spanish tomatillo, diminutive of tomate (“tomato”), ultimately from Classical Nahuatl tomatl.

Words from the same roots

Spanishtomatillo all →

tamarillo

Classical Nahuatltomatl all →

tomato

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.