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estrellar

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word estrellar

estrellar1 to smash

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1583
Ultimate origin
Latin stēlla
Etymology tree of estrellar1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin stēlla
Italian stella
Spanish estrella
Spanish estrellar
From the same root · estrellar1
Latin stēllāris ← stēlla
Latin stēllō ← stēlla

Pronunciation

  • /estɾeˈʝaɾ/, [es.t̪ɾeˈʝaɾ], /estɾeˈʎaɾ/[1]

Forms

estrellar (first-person singular present estrello, first-person singular preterite estrellé, past participle estrellado)[1]

Etymology

The verb for “to smash” is formed from Spanish estrella (“star”) + -ar, from the star-shaped rays that a broken object makes, as the Diccionario de Autoridades and the Academy's dictionary of 1884 explain.[2][3][1] Bénaben also thinks of the star shape, comparing a French windscreen “starred” by a crack.[4] The other sense, “to fill with stars”, is plainly from the noun, which is estrella from Latin stēlla.[5][6]

Corominas explains the sense “to smash” differently: for him it has the same origin as estallar “to burst”, an Old Spanish *astellar (“to break into splinters”) from astiella (“splinter”), with an added /r/ that echoes the other liquid of the word.[7][5] Gómez de Silva also sees it as a change of that verb.[8] García de Diego puts both senses under Latin stellare (“to set with stars”).[9] Corominas notes that Portuguese estralar means “to burst” but has the shape of the Spanish verb.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The BDELC dates the verb “to smash by throwing it hard” to 1583.[7] DICCA-XV and the CORDE have a record from 1471, and Percyvall in 1591 gives it as “to set with stars”.[10][11]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades defined it as throwing something fragile, such as a clay jug or a glass, so hard that it breaks, and quoted the Quijote: Tomaré esta silla en que estoi sentado, y se la estrellaré en la cabeza “I will take this chair I am sitting on and break it over his head”.[2] It also had a figurative sense, to tell someone a hard truth to his face, then already rare, and the threat estrellar a uno contra la pared.[2] Terreros compared the action to breaking an egg, and the Academy recorded “to fry eggs” by 1869.[12][13]

The pronominal estrellarse con uno, to clash openly with someone's opinions, is in the Academy's dictionary of 1817.[14] Salvá added the nautical sense of a ship striking a shoal or rocks.[15] Today the verb also means to be badly hurt or killed in a crash, and to fail against an obstacle that cannot be overcome.[6][16] In the Dominican Republic it means to slam a door or window.[17]

Timeline

  • 1583 – the BDELC's date for “to smash”.[7]
  • 1591 – Percyvall: “to set with stars”.[11]
  • 1690 – a record from Nuevo León: a crying child is dashed against a stone.[18]
  • 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades links the verb to the rays of a painted star.[2]
  • 1817 – the Academy's dictionary records estrellarse con uno.[14]
  • 1884 – the Academy derives it from estrella, “from the shape that results”.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (colloquial) To hurl a person or thing violently so that it hits something, often breaking it; also pronominal: Estrelló el plato contra el suelo.[6][1]
  2. To fry an egg, breaking it into the pan.[6][16]
  3. (rare) To fill or spangle with stars; mostly pronominal: El cielo se estrelló al anochecer.[6]
  4. (pronominal) To be badly hurt or killed by crashing into a hard surface; to have a crash in a car, plane and so on.[6][16]
  5. (pronominal) To fail on meeting an obstacle that cannot be overcome.[6][1]
  6. (pronominal) Of a person: to clash with another's ideas, openly contradicting them.[6]

estrellar2 stellar

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
Borrowed from
Latin stellaris
Ultimate origin
Latin stēlla
Etymology tree of estrellar2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin stēlla
Italian stella
Spanish estrella
Latin stēllāris
English stellar
Spanish estrellar
From the same root · estrellar2
Latin stēllō ← stēlla
English interstellar ← stellar

Pronunciation

  • /estɾeˈʝaɾ/, [es.t̪ɾeˈʝaɾ], /estɾeˈʎaɾ/[1]

Forms

estrellar m or f (masculine and feminine plural estrellares)[1]

Etymology

The adjective for “stellar” is borrowed from Latin stellāris (“of a star, starry”).[6][3] The Latin adjective is post-classical, formed from stēlla (“star”).[19][1] The usual Spanish form of the learned word is estelar, which the DCECH lists among the learned words beside estrella.[5][20]

Semantic evolution

The Diccionario de Autoridades called it a rarely used word and quoted Nieremberg's Philosophia oculta, with Latin stellatus as its equivalent.[2] The Academy gave it again in 1843 with Latin stellaris, and Salvá marked it as little used.[21][15]

Timeline

  • 1726–1739 – the Diccionario de Autoridades records the adjective as rare.[2]
  • 1843 – the Academy's dictionary gives it with Latin stellaris.[21]
  • 1884 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin stellaris.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of or relating to the stars; stellar.[6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 3, 650
  3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 471
  4. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. estrellar
  5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 805
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. estrellar
  7. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estallar
  8. ^ Gómez de Silva, Guido (1988), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua española, México: Fondo de Cultura Económica / El Colegio de México, p. 288
  9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 6328
  10. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. estrellar
  11. ^ a b Percyvall, Richard (1591), Bibliothecae Hispanicae pars altera: containing a dictionarie in Spanish, English and Latine, London: John Jackson for Richard Watkins, p. 140
  12. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 2, 121
  13. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 342
  14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 398
  15. ^ a b Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 493
  16. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. estrellar
  17. ^ 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. estrellar
  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. estrellar
  19. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  20. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. estrellar
  21. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 327

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Estrellar.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/estrellar. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

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