descanso

des·can·so
D2E1S1C3A1N1S1O1
/dɛsˈkɑːnsoʊ/

noun

A cross placed at the site of a violent, unexpected death, in memoriam.

“The highways of the USA are littered with descansos, silent reminders of automobile accidents.”

OriginSpanish descanso ← Latin campsāre ← Old Spanish des- →
UncommonScrabble 11
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

descanso1

noundescanso (plural descansos)

plural descansos

  1. A cross placed at the site of a violent, unexpected death, in memoriam.

    The highways of the USA are littered with descansos, silent reminders of automobile accidents.

Descanso2

proper noun
  1. A census-designated place in San Diego County, California, United States.

Origin

  1. Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁
  2. Proto-Indo-European*trísinflu.
  3. Proto-Indo-European*d(w)is-
  4. Proto-Italic*dis-
  5. Latindis-
  6. Old Spanishdes-
  7. Spanishdes-
  8. Latincampsāre
  9. Spanishcansar
  10. Spanishdescansardeverb.
  11. Spanishdescanso
  12. Englishdescanso

Borrowed from Spanish descanso (“place of rest, as of a funeral procession”).

More words from Spanish

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

condessa
Cite this entry
APA

descanso. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/descanso

MLA

“descanso.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/descanso. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “descanso,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/descanso.

Source: descanso on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.