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burro

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word burro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1330–1343 Juan Ruiz, Libro de buen amor More words from the 14th century
Ultimate origin
Latin burricus
Derivations

Pronunciation

  • /ˈburo/, [ˈbu.ro][1]

Forms

burro m (plural burros, feminine burra, feminine plural burras)[1]

Etymology

It is a back-formation from Spanish borrico (“donkey”): Spanish speakers took the ending of its popular pronunciation with /u/ for the diminutive suffix -ico and removed it.[2][3][4][5][1] borrico continues Late Latin burricus (“small horse”), a word found in texts of the 3rd to 7th centuries, through a form *burriccus influenced by the diminutive suffix.[6][2]

The only other direct descendant of the Latin word is Portuguese burrico; Portuguese burro was formed in the same way, and Catalan and Occitan took burro and bourro from Spanish.[6][7][8] The Latin meaning “horse” survives in Asturian burru of western Asturias.[6]

The Late Latin word is usually traced to Latin burrus (“red, reddish brown”), which goes back to Ancient Greek πυρρός (purrhós, “flame-coloured”), from πῦρ (pûr, “fire”).[1][3] Wiktionary adds that it may be a blend of this word with an older form with a long vowel and a single ⟨r⟩.[1] Corominas reports that Ernout and Meillet suspected a Germanic origin and that Nencioni preferred a Mediterranean or African one, because a Greek glossary records a word for the ass among the people of Cyrene; he rejects the Kahanes' derivation from a Greek word for “reddish”.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish cites the word in the Libro de buen amor of Juan Ruiz (1330–1343) in the sense “ass”.[9] Corominas dates it to the 15th century, in a medieval Bible translation (Genesis 32:15), and then to 1514; the feminine burra follows in the 16th century.[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined burro as a synonym of asno and jumento, and already gave two transferred senses: the sawyers' trestle that holds a log at an angle, and a card game in which each player receives three cards.[10] The Academy's dictionary of 1770 added the toothed wooden wheel of the silk-twisting mill and the figurative sense of a stupid person deaf to all teaching, and that of 1843 the player who loses each hand in the card game.[11][12] The phrase burro cargado de letras, a learned person without judgement, was in the Academy's dictionary by 1869.[13][5]

In the Americas the word names many supports and frames: a stepladder and an ironing board in Mexico, a walking frame in Cuba, a trestle table in Central America; in Argentina and Uruguay it is a joking word for a racehorse.[5][14][15] Mexican speech has many proverbs with the word, such as el burro hablando de orejas, said of someone who criticises in others his own fault.[16] English borrowed burro “donkey” in 1800.[17]

Timeline

  • 1330–1343 – the Libro de buen amor uses burro for the ass.[9]
  • 15th century – Corominas's first record, in a medieval Bible translation.[6]
  • 1516 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico: 1 macho burro.[18]
  • 1605 – the derivative burrero appears in López de Úbeda.[6]
  • 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the trestle and the card game.[10]
  • 1770 – the Academy adds the figurative sense “dunce”.[11]
  • 1800 – English borrows the word.[17]
  • 1899 – the Academy gives borrico as its source.[19]

Meanings

Noun

  1. donkey, ass (asno); the masculine is used for the species: Subimos la cuesta con dos burros cargados de leña.[5][1]
  2. (colloquial) A rough, uncivil person.[5][20]
  3. (colloquial) A stupid or ignorant person, a dunce; also used as an adjective.[5][1]
  4. (colloquial) A person who does hard work without complaint (burro de carga).[5]
  5. A sawhorse: a frame of two arms forming an angle and an adjustable crossbar, holding one end of a log raised while it is sawn.[5][1]
  6. A card game with several varieties; the player who loses each hand in it.[5][1]
  7. (Argentina, Uruguay, colloquial) A racehorse.[5][14]
  8. (Mexico) A stepladder; an ironing board.[5][14]
  9. (Cuba, mostly in the diminutive) A walking frame for people who have difficulty walking.[5]

Word family

  • burrero
  • burrito
  • mataburros
  • tumbaburros
  • burdégano
  • borrico
  • Portuguese burro
  • Late Latin burricus

Usage notes

The phrase burro cargado de letras is said of a person who has studied a great deal but does not reason intelligently.[5] In the Canaries burro is also the name of a sea fish.[21]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. borrico
  3. ^ a b Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 129
  4. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. burro
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. burro
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 634
  7. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1193
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b Boggs, R. S.; Kasten, Lloyd; Keniston, Hayward; Richardson, H. B. (1946), Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, 2 vols., Chapel Hill, N.C., p. 85
  10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 720
  11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 549
  12. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 118
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 125
  14. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. burro
  15. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 172
  16. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (2001), Diccionario breve de mexicanismos, México: Academia Mexicana / Fondo de Cultura Económica, p. 35
  17. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  18. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. burro
  19. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 161
  20. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. burro
  21. ^ Maffiotte, Luis (1993), Los canarismos (manuscript c. 1887), ed. Lothar Siemens Hernández, Las Palmas: Instituto de Estudios Canarios, p. 44
Cite this entry

“Burro.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/burro. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·