Word origins

• AlegranzaAn island of the Canary Islands.
• AlegríaA town in Usulután department, El Salvador.
• AlejandrezA surname from Spanish.
• alfajorA popular confection in South America usually made of flour, honey, and nuts and filled with a milk-based filling. Traditionally the filling was manjar blanco, but today it is typically dulce de leche.
• alfaquiAn Islamic cleric, an expert in Islamic law and jurisprudence, especially in medieval and early modern Spain.
• alférezIn some Spanish-speaking countries, a junior-ranking officer in the military.
• alfilA fairy chess piece that moves two squares diagonally, leaping over any intermediary pieces.
• alfilariacommon storksbill (Erodium cicutarium), a flowering plant of the family Geraniaceae.
• alfilerilloMachaonia woodburyana, a plant in the family Rubiaceae.
• alfizIn Mozarabic architecture, moulding which encloses the outward side of an arch.
• alforjaA saddlebag.
• algarobaThe carob, a leguminous tree of the Mediterranean region.
• algarrobillaAstringent resinous husks and seeds of several species of leguminous trees or shrubs of South America, which are an article of commerce for their value in tanning and dyeing
• algodoncilloBauhinia picta, a fabaceous plant found in Colombia, Panama, and Venezuela.
• algodoniteA hexagonal copper arsenide mineral.
• AlipioA surname from Spanish.
• aljamiadoText of non-Semitic languages, especially European languages, written in Arabic letters.
• alkanetThe dyeing matter extracted from the roots of the plant with water or oil, used for cotton especially but also silk and wool, giving a deep red colour.
• alligator pearAn avocado.
• almadrabaA Mediterranean fishing technique for catching Atlantic bluefin tuna consisting of suspending nets in walls that guide the fish to a central net trap where they are caught for slaughter.
• almagraRuddle (red ochre), found in Spain.
• AlmarioA surname from Spanish.
• AlmazanA surname from Spanish.
• almendronThe brazil nut tree.
• AlmeríaA city and municipality, the capital of the province of Almería, Andalusia, Spain.
• almiquiAtopogale cubana, a soricomorph endemic to Cuba, unusual among mammals in having venomous saliva.
• almogavarA lightly-clad footsoldier during the Christian reconquest of Islamic Spain.
• AlmohadOf or relating to the doctrine and movement founded in 12th-century Morocco by Ibn Tumart.
• AlmoravidA member of a Berber dynasty that started in 11th-century Morocco.
• almudA traditional Spanish and Portuguese unit of dry measure or volume, highly variable by region and substance but often equivalent to about 4.6 liters (one celemin).
• alpagatA kind of sandal, alpargata.
• alpargataSynonym of espadrille.
• al pastorOf (tacos of) typically pork, or sometimes another meat or dish: grilled on a spit, and flavored with chiles, spices, and pineapple.
• AlphonzoA male given name from Italian or from Spanish [in turn from the Germanic languages], of rare usage, variant of Alfonso.
• AlpuenteA city in Valencia, Spain.
• alquerqueAn ancient strategy board game, an ancestor of checkers, thought to have originated in the Middle East.
• Alta CaliforniaA geographic region of New Spain, later Mexico, which today roughly comprises the U.S. states of California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona.
• alumbradoA practitioner of a mystical form of Christianity in Spain during the 15th and 16th centuries.
• AlzamoraA surname from Spanish.
• amarilThe toxin of Bacillus icteriodes, at one time asserted to be the specific organism of yellow fever.
• amarillicRelating to yellow fever.
• AmescuaA surname.
• AmezcuaA surname.
• AmezolaA surname.
• AmigonA surname from Spanish.
• amoleAny of various parts of the Agave (or similar) plants, when used as soap.
• AmparanA surname from Spanish.
• -amundoAn intensifier.
• AmuzgoOne of an indigenous people of Guerrero and Oaxaca, Mexico.
• AnahiA Spanish female given name from Spanish.
• AnaliaA female given name.
• AnamorósA town in La Unión department, El Salvador.
• AnchondoA surname.
• anchovetaAn anchovy of species Engraulis ringens, from the southern Pacific.
• AndalonA surname from Spanish.
• andelehurry up; come on; get a move on
• Andes MountainsOne of the world's major mountain ranges stretching along the western end of South America from Colombia to the southern tip of Chile.
• AndujoA surname from Spanish.
• añejoA tequila or rum which has been aged.
• AnezA surname from Spanish.
• AngatA municipality of Bulacan, Philippines.
• Angel CityLos Angeles, California.
• angonA type of javelin with a barbed tip, used by the Franks and the various Germanic tribes in the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages.
• anillinA conserved protein implicated in cytoskeletal dynamics during cellularization and cytokinesis.
• anitoancestor spirit in Indigenous Philippine folk religions
• AnnobónAn island and province of Equatorial Guinea, lying in the Gulf of Guinea.
• Antártica ChilenaA province of Chile. Capital and largest city: Puerto Williams.
• anticuchoA grilled and seasoned piece of meat, especially beef heart, of a kind popular in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.
• Antiguo CuscatlánA town in La Libertad department, El Salvador.
• AnzaldoA surname from Spanish.
• AnzoáteguiA state of Venezuela. Capital: Barcelona.
• AnzuresA surname from Spanish.
• AoYA surname from Spanish
• ApanecaA town in San Salvador department, El Salvador.
• aparejoA kind of packsaddle formerly used in the United States military, and in Latin America, made of leather stuffed with hay, moss, or similar substances.
• ApastepequeA town in San Vicente department, El Salvador.
• ApolinarioA surname from Spanish.
• aporophobiaThe fear of poverty or poor people; antipathy toward them both.
• apostoladoA series of portraits of the apostles, sometimes also including those of Jesus Christ or other close disciples of Christ.
• ApurímacA region of Peru.
• AracelisA female given name from Spanish.
• araguaneyThe tree Handroanthus chrysanthus.
• ArambalaA town in Morazán department, El Salvador.
• AranasA surname from Spanish.
• ArancibiaA surname.
• aranzadaA traditional Spanish unit of land area, equivalent to about 4472 m², chiefly used for vineyards and olive groves.
• AraucanaA type of poultry notable for laying blue or green eggs.
• AraucanizationThe process of expansion of the Mapudungun language and other elements of the Mapuche culture from its homeland Araucania into the plains of Patagonia, so as to assimilate such other native Amerindian peoples as the Puelches and Tehuelches.
• ArauzA surname.
• ArbaizaA surname.
• ArbelaezA surname from Spanish [in turn from Basque].
• ArbeloA surname from Spanish.
• ArbizuA surname.
• ArcataoA town in Chalatenango department, El Salvador.
• ArceagaA surname from Spanish
• ArchibequeA surname.
• ArcigaA surname from Spanish.
• ArciniegaA surname.
• ArenivasA surname from Spanish.
• arepaA type of cornbread originating from the northern Andes and resembling a tortilla.