Meanings
plural alebrijes
- A brightly-colored Mexican handcrafted sculpture usually made from papier-mâché or wood depicting a fantastical animal.
"You have ten minutes to safely bring an alebrije back to the finish," Luna announced.
2022, Aiden Thomas, The Sunbearer Trials3 more examples
The advertisement describes the monster (a "Zapotec Martian," which must be an alebrije) in almost exactly the same words words as the blurb in Mexico on Grand. Tanya obviously copied this advertisement from Oaxacan Wood Carving and presented it without irony.
2003, Michael Chibnik, Crafting Tradition: The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan Wood ...I was painting marigold orange onto the back of an alebrije that looked a little like a mule deer.
2022, Anna-Marie McLemore, Lakelore"And what are you going as, Isabella?" […] "An alebrije," Isabella [said] […] [one of those] brightly colored animals […]
2023, Clifford Mae Henderson, Bait and Witch
Origin
- Spanishalebrije
- Englishalebrije
Borrowed from Spanish alebrije.
More words from Spanish
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
alebrije. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alebrije
“alebrije.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alebrije. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “alebrije,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/alebrije.
Source: alebrije on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.