cuchillo

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish cuchiello, from Latin cultellus, a diminutive of culter. Cognate with English cutlery. Compare English cutlass also.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kuˈt͡ʃiʝo/, [kuˈt͡ʃi.ʝo]

• IPA^(key): (most of Spain and Latin America) /kuˈt͡ʃiʝo/, [kuˈt͡ʃi.ʝo]
• IPA^(key): (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains) /kuˈt͡ʃiʎo/, [kuˈt͡ʃi.ʎo]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /kuˈt͡ʃiʃo/, [kuˈt͡ʃi.ʃo]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /kuˈt͡ʃiʒo/, [kuˈt͡ʃi.ʒo]

Audio (Colombia)

(file)

Noun

cuchillo m (plural cuchillos)

1. knife

   Synonyms: estilete, daga, faca, navaja, puñal

   Coordinate terms: cuchara, tenedor

2. blade of knife

Hyponyms

• cuchillo de carne (“steak knife”) (Spain, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Honduras, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela)
• cuchillo de cocina (“kitchen knife”)
• cuchillo de mondar (“paring knife”) (used in parts of Mexico, Spain, Argentina and Uruguay)
• cuchillo de pelar (“paring knife”), cuchillo para pelar (“paring knife”)
• cuchillo para carne (“steak knife”) (Bolivia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Mexico)

 

Derived terms

• acuchillar
• cuchillada
• cuchillería
• cuchillero
• cuchillito
• cuchillón
• en casa de herrero, cuchillo de palo

 

Descendants

• → Cebuano: kutsilyo
• → Mapudungun: kucijo
• → Mecayapan Nahuatl: cochi̱loj
• → Oluta Popoluca: cuchi̱nu
• → San Juan Atzingo Popoloca: cochiyó
• → San Juan Colorado Mixtec: cutsilu
• → Southeastern Tepehuan: kuxiir
• → Tagalog: kutsilyo
• → Zoogocho Zapotec: cwšiyw

Further reading

• “cuchillo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014