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cacao

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word cacao

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1523 Hernán Cortés, third Carta de relación More words from the 16th century
Borrowed from
Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl
Ultimate origin
Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Spanish cacao
English cacao
English cocoa

Pronunciation

  • /kaˈkao/, [kaˈka.o][1]

Forms

cacao m (plural cacaos)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl (“cacao bean”), taken in the stem form cacáua that the word has in compounds.[2][3][4][1] Corominas explains the ending: the Spaniards met the stem in compounds such as cacahuacuahuitl (“cacao tree”), with cuahuitl (“tree”), and because Spanish names of fruit trees end in ⟨-o⟩ (manzano beside manzana), the name of the tree took its present form.[2] Oviedo (1535) says that the fruit was called coco, cacaguate or by the present name indifferently.[2][5] Wikcionario traces the Nahuatl word further to a Mixe–Zoquean language.[6]

The same Nahuatl word gave cacahuate and cacahuete, “peanut”.[2][1] The English word cocoa is an alteration of the Spanish form, under the influence of coco;[7][8] English also has cacao from the 1550s.[2][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Hernán Cortés's letters to the emperor are the first records: pan y cacao, que es cierto brebaje que ellos beben “bread and cacao, which is a drink they drink”.[9][2][10] In 1525 Rodrigo de Albornoz describes it as unas almendras que ellos usan por moneda, de que hacen su brebaje “almonds they use as money, from which they make their drink”.[9]

Semantic evolution

From the first records the word named both the seeds, used as money in New Spain, and the drink made from them;[11] Oviedo (1535) describes the tree, its fruit, the drink and the oil.[9][3] The use of cacao beans as coin explains the phrase no valer un cacao “not to be worth a cacao”, first recorded in Cervantes's La gitanilla (1613).[2] Autoridades (1729) calls it an Indian word and notes that it served as small change in the Indies.[11]

The modern senses include cocoa powder, the drink made from it and a lip balm made with cocoa butter.[4][12] In colloquial Spanish of Spain cacao is a commotion or a muddle, as in cacao mental “mental confusion”.[4][12] In Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador a cacao is a rich and influential person, a sense also found in the Dominican Republic.[13][14] In Chile, where the powder and drink are called cocoa, that form spread from the labels of tins imported from England.[8]

Timeline

  • 1523 – Cortés's third letter, the first record.[10][2]
  • 1525 – Rodrigo de Albornoz and a Mexico City record describe the beans used as money.[9][15]
  • 1535 – Oviedo describes the tree, the fruit and the drink.[3][9]
  • 1550s – English cacao is borrowed from Spanish.[7]
  • 1554 – López de Gómara lists it among the goods of the Indians.[16]
  • 1590 – first record of cacaotal, a cacao plantation.[2]
  • 1613 – Cervantes uses no valer un cacao.[2]
  • 1729 – Autoridades records the word as an Indian word.[11]
  • 1884 – the Academy gives the Nahuatl etymology.[17]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a tropical American tree whose fruit is the main ingredient of chocolate.[4][1]
  2. The seed of this tree, the cocoa bean.[4][1]
  3. cocoa powder, made from the seeds.[4]
  4. A drink made with cocoa powder: Por las mañanas toma un cacao caliente.[4][12]
  5. A moisturising lip balm made with cocoa butter.[4]
  6. (historical) Mesoamerican money consisting of cacao beans.[4]
  7. (colloquial, Spain) A commotion or uproar.[4]
  8. (colloquial) Confusion or disorder in work or ideas: cacao mental.[4]
  9. (Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador) A wealthy and influential person.[13]

Word family

  • cacaotal
  • cacaotero
  • cacahual
  • cacahuate
  • cacahuete
  • English cocoa
  • Classical Nahuatl cacahuatl

Usage notes

No valer un cacao means to be worth very little.[4] The Academy has a second cacao, an imitation of the cry of a fleeing cock, found in pedir cacao “to beg for mercy, give in”, used in Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Venezuela;[4][1][18][19] Cuervo traced the Bogotá phrase to cockfighting.[4][1][18][19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 719
  3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cacao
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. cacao
  5. ^ Friederici, Georg (1947), Amerikanistisches Wörterbuch, Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter, p. 108
  6. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Lenz, Rodolfo (1904–1910), Diccionario etimolójico de las voces chilenas derivadas de lenguas indíjenas americanas, Santiago de Chile: Imprenta Cervantes, p. s.v. cacao
  9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. cacao
  10. ^ a b Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (2026), Old Spanish Textual Archive (OSTA): semi-paleographic transcriptions of Old Spanish texts, ed. Francisco Gago Jover et al., https://www.hispanicseminary.org
  11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 2, 35
  12. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. cacao
  13. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. cacao
  14. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. cacao
  15. ^ 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. cacao
  16. ^ Grupo IATEXT, Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, AMERLEX: corpus of americanisms in early texts on the Americas (online database), p. s.v. cacao
  17. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 182
  18. ^ a b García Icazbalceta, Joaquín (1899), Vocabulario de mexicanismos comprobado con ejemplos y comparado con los de otros países hispano-americanos, México: La Europea, p. s.v. cacao
  19. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. cacao

Borrowed into

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cacao.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/cacao. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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