cabello

See also: Cabello

Old Spanish

Etymology

From Latin capillum, accusative of capillus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbeʎo/
• Hyphenation: ca‧bel‧lo

Noun

cabello m (plural cabellos)

1. (usually in the plural, anatomy) hair
   • c. 1250, Alfonso X, Lapidario, f. 17r:

     Et a eſte nombre por que ſegund dize ptholomeo naſcen en aquella tierra en los arboles unas fructas en figuras de mugieres ⁊ cuelgan por los cabellos.

     And it has this name because, according to Ptolemy, fruits in the shape of women grow on the trees of that land, and they hang by the hair.

Descendants

• Spanish: cabello

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish cabello, from Latin capillus (whence English capillary). Compare Galician cabelo, Portuguese cabelo.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbeʝo/ [kaˈβ̞e.ʝo]

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbeʝo/ [kaˈβ̞e.ʝo] (Equatorial Guinea, most of Latin America and Spain)
• IPA^(key): /kaˈbeʎo/ [kaˈβ̞e.ʎo] (rustic northern Spain, northern and central Andes Mountains (except central Ecuador), Bolivia, Paraguay, northeastern Argentina, Philippines)
• IPA^(key): /kaˈbeʃo/ [kaˈβ̞e.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /kaˈbeʒo/ [kaˈβ̞e.ʒo] (central Ecuador, Santiago del Estero and environs, elsewhere in Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)
• IPA^(key): /kaˈbeo/ [kaˈβ̞e.o] (northern Mexico, Yucatán, Central America (except Panama))

 

• Rhymes: -eʝo

• Rhymes: -eʝo (Equatorial Guinea, most of Latin America and Spain)
• Rhymes: -eʎo (rustic northern Spain, northern and central Andes Mountains (except central Ecuador), Bolivia, Paraguay, northeastern Argentina, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -eʃo (Buenos Aires and environs)
• Rhymes: -eʒo (central Ecuador, Santiago del Estero and environs, elsewhere in Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)
• Rhymes: -eo (northern Mexico, Yucatán, Central America (except Panama))

• Syllabification: ca‧be‧llo

Noun

cabello m (plural cabellos) (in colloquial usage more common in Latin America)

1. (uncountable unless referring to hair on multiple heads, etc.) hair (mass of hairs)

   Synonym: pelo

   • 2017 May 20, “Trasplante de cabello - Injerto Capilar FUE en España”, in Medican Clinics‎^[1]:

     Trasplante de cabello o injerto capilar FUE en España con clínicas en Barcelona y Málaga por 2.995 € hasta 4.500 folículos

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (countable) hair strand

   Synonym: pelo

Derived terms

• cabello de ángel
• cabello de Venus
• cabelludo
• cortar un cabello en el aire

Related terms

• cabelludo
• capilar (relational)

Further reading

• “cabello”, 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