Meanings
plural centzontles · alternative centzontlé · alternative cenzontli · alternative sensonte · alternative sinsonte · alternative sinsontle
- rareA mockingbird.
He had bought young centzontles and it was Roberto's and Manuel's job to whistle at them until they learned to sing. But the birds picked at the cane and made an opening through which a dozen and a half escaped.
1961, Oscar Lewis, The Children of Sanchez: Autobiography of a Mexican Family
Origin
- Classical Nahuatlcentzontleh
- Spanishcenzontle
- Englishcentzontle
Borrowed from Spanish cenzontle, from Classical Nahuatl centzontleh, shortened form of centzontlahtōleh (“mockingbird”, literally “possessor of four hundred words”), from centzontli (“four hundred, a count of four hundred”) + tlahtōlli (“language, word, statement”) + -eh (“possessor of”).
More words from Spanish, Classical Nahuatl
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
centzontle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/centzontle
“centzontle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/centzontle. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “centzontle,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/centzontle.
Source: centzontle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.