acertijo

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *h₂éd

Proto-Italic *ad

Proto-Italic *ad-

Latin ad-

Spanish a-

Proto-Indo-European *krey-

Proto-Italic *kritos

Latin certus

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -āre

Old Spanish -ar

Spanish -ar

Spanish acertar

Spanish -ijo

Spanish acertijo

From acertar + -ijo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aθeɾˈtixo/ [a.θeɾˈt̪i.xo] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /aseɾˈtixo/ [a.seɾˈt̪i.xo] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ixo
• Syllabification: a‧cer‧ti‧jo

Noun

acertijo m (plural acertijos)

1. riddle

   Synonym: adivinanza

Further reading

• “acertijo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025