Etymologically
Log in

burrito

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 1 November 2026 at 01:08. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • UK: /bəˈɹiː.təʊ/, /bʊˈriːtəʊ/[1]
  • US: /bəˈɹi.toʊ/[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish burrito,[2][3][4] a Mexican and American Spanish word,[4][5][6][7] recorded in dictionaries of Mexican Spanish from 1895 according to the OED,[2] while Etymonline cites the “Diccionario de Mejicanismos” of 1898.[3] It is a special use of the Spanish word for a little donkey,[2][4][8][7] recorded from the second half of the 18th century or earlier,[2] a diminutive of burro (“donkey”) (the source of burro) with -ito.[2][6][4] The OED notes indirect evidence of burro itself for a similar dish in Mexico, in Calderón de la Barca's “Life in Mexico” (1843), where the hot tortillas with cheese offered as "a burro" startled the author.[2] Why a word for a donkey came to name the dish is unclear: the OED mentions the guesses that a rolled tortilla looks like the bedrolls and bundles a donkey carries, or that the first burritos were sold from a donkey, and finds evidence for neither,[2] and Etymonline suggests that the early, open burrito seemed to carry something on its back like a burro.[3] Dictionary.com places the stuffed-taco sense in the Spanish of Guerrero.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Mexican dish of a tortilla around a savoury filling: 1934, in Erna Fergusson's Mexican Cookbook.[2][3] Etymonline notes that her recipe was more like a modern tostada, made of corn cakes with a hollow pressed into the middle, filled with chicharrones and baked.[3] Merriam-Webster's first date, 1902, is for the name of a fish.[8]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline notes that the 1898 “Diccionario de Mejicanismos” describes both the open corn-cake burrito and the more familiar rolled one, which it treated as the same as a taco.[3] In English the name has settled on the rolled form: the OED and Collins describe a flour tortilla wrapped round a warm filling of meat, beans or cheese.[2][7] The word was also, separately, the name of several grunts of tropical American waters, a use Merriam-Webster dates to 1902.[8][9] In American slang it has been a derogatory name for a person of Latin American descent (1980) and, on campuses, a word for the penis (1989).[10]

Timeline

  • 1902 – the name of several American grunts (fish).[8][9]
  • 1934 – a Mexican dish of a filled tortilla.[2][3]
  • 1980 – in American slang, a derogatory name for a Latin American.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A Mexican dish of a flour tortilla rolled or folded around a filling such as meat, beans or cheese: We picked up two bean burritos on the way home.[8][7][2]
  2. Any of several small grunts (fish) of tropical American waters.[8][9]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
  5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  9. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  10. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com