abuelo

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish abuelo.

Noun

abuelo (plural abuelos)

1. A Hispanic grandfather.

   Coordinate term: abuela

   • 2016 May 17, Walter Einenkal, “Prominent Florida Republican is fighting for her child's trans rights”, in Daily Kos‎^[1]:

     A turning point came when he told his 86-year-old abuelo in 2010. “We were terrified to tell him,” Mr. Heng-Lehtinen said.

   • 2017 April 3, Dr A W Niloc, “Resistance Songs for Day 75 - Sex Appeal”, in Daily Kos‎^[2]:

     Young people who are close to writing off the Democratic Party as a dinosaur, as a gerontocracy of prudish abuelos who gave birth by immaculate conception, may be in for a pleasant surprise.

   • 2024 October 20, CaptBLI, “Dawn Chorus - Small game, Mississippi hunting laws.”, in Daily Kos‎^[3]:

     I visited several neighborhood parks that had extensive feeder operations, trail systems etc, and there were always family groups, often with very young kids as well as abuelas and abuelos, teenage boys and girls birding or hiking- it was really eye-opening to see a people immersed in the natural world around them.

Chavacano

Etymology

From Spanish abuelo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈbwelo/, [aˈbwe.lo]
• Hyphenation: a‧bue‧lo

Noun

abuelo

1. (Zamboangueño) grandfather

   Synonyms: (Caviteño) lolo, (Ternateño) agüelo

Related terms

• abuela

Hiligaynon

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish abuelo.

Noun

abuélo

1. grandfather

Spanish

Alternative forms

• agüelo (eye dialect)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Early Medieval Latin avia

Early Medieval Latin -ola

Early Medieval Latin aviola

Proto-Indo-European *-os

Proto-Italic *-os

Vulgar Latin -us

Vulgar Latin *aviolum

Old Spanish avuelo

Spanish abuelo

Inherited from Old Spanish avuelo, from Vulgar Latin *av(i)olum, ultimately from Latin avus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈbwelo/ [aˈβ̞we.lo]

  • Audio (Colombia):

    (file)

• IPA^(key): (dialectal) /aˈwelo/ [aˈwe.lo], /aˈɡwelo/ [aˈɣ̞we.lo]
• Rhymes: -elo
• Syllabification: a‧bue‧lo

Noun

abuelo m (plural abuelos, feminine abuela, feminine plural abuelas)

1. grandfather

   Su abuelo es simpático.

   His grandfather is nice.

2. (colloquial, endearing, figurative) an elderly person
3. loose tufts of hair in the nape when one's hair is messed up

   Synonym: tolano

Derived terms

• abolengo
• abu
• abue
• abuelado
• abuelito
• abuelo Cebolleta
• abuelo materno
• abuelo paterno
• abuelo político
• bisabuelo
• tío abuelo

Descendants

• Chavacano: abuelo
• → English: abuelo
• → Hiligaynon: abuélo
• → Papiamentu: welo
• → Tagalog: abwelo

Further reading

• “abuelo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024