enchilada

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɛnt͡ʃɪˈlɑːdə/ (UK); /ˌɛnt͡ʃɪˈlɑdə/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish enchilada from Mexican Spanish,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} the feminine past participle of enchilar “to season with chili”,^[3][4][5][6] from Spanish en- (“in”) + chile (“chili”).^[2][3][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A Mexican dish of a tortilla with a chili sauce (1876 in Etymonline, after tortillas enchiladas in 1861;^[4] 1887 in Barnhart, Merriam-Webster and the OED).^[3][5][7]

Semantic evolution

The dish is usually a tortilla rolled around a filling and baked in sauce.^[2][5][1] In American slang the whole enchilada means the whole of something,^[5][6] and big enchilada or top enchilada the most important person in an organization.^[6]

Timeline

• 1861 – tortillas enchiladas.^[4]
• 1876 – enchilada.^[4]
• 1887 – Barnhart's, Merriam-Webster's and the OED's date.^[3][5][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A tortilla rolled around a filling, usually of meat or cheese, covered with a chili sauce and usually baked.
2. (slang) the whole enchilada: the whole thing; everything involved.
3. (slang) big enchilada: the most important person in a group.

Word family

• big enchilada

Related words

• chili
• tortilla
• taco

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c d Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press