mescal

See also: Mescal

English

A bottle of mescal

Alternative forms

• mezcal
• mexcal (rare)

Etymology

From Mexican Spanish mezcal, from Nahuatl or Classical Nahuatl mexcalli (“intoxicating drink made from fermented agave juice”), perhaps from metl (“maguey (agave)”) + ixcalli (“stew”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɛˈskæl/, /mɛˈskɑl/, /ˈmɛzkæl/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

Noun

mescal (countable and uncountable, plural mescals)

1. A Mexican alcoholic drink distilled from the fermented juice of the agave.
   • 1947, Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano, New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, page 77:

     He thought: 900 pesos=100 bottles of whiskey=900 ditto tequila. Argal: one should drink neither tequila nor whiskey but mescal.

2. The peyote cactus.

Derived terms

• mescal bean
• mescaline
• mescalism

Translations

Mexican alcoholic drink

• Apache:

  Western Apache: nadah

• Esperanto: meskalo
• Russian: меска́ль (ru) m (meskálʹ)

Anagrams

• Camels, Malecs, camels, macles, mascle, scamel

Catalan

Etymology

From Spanish mezcal, from Nahuatl or Classical Nahuatl mexcalli (“intoxicating drink made from fermented agave juice”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [məsˈkal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [mesˈkal]

Noun

mescal m (plural mescals)

1. mescal

Portuguese

Etymology

From Mexican Spanish mezcal, from Nahuatl or Classical Nahuatl mexcalli (“intoxicating drink made from fermented agave juice”), perhaps from metl (“maguey (agave)”) + ixcalli (“stew”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /mesˈkaw/ [mesˈkaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /mesˈkaw/ [mesˈkaʊ̯]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /meʃˈkaw/ [meʃˈkaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɛʃˈkal/ [mɛʃˈkaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɛʃˈkal/ [mɛʃˈkaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɛʃˈka.li/

• Rhymes: -al, -aw
• Hyphenation: mes‧cal

Noun

mescal m (plural mescais)

1. peyote; mescal (small, spineless cactus of Mexico and the southern United States)
2. mescal (Mexican alcoholic drink made from agave)

Synonyms

• peiote

Further reading

• “mescal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “mescal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026