chilacayote

noun

chi·​la·​ca·​yo·​te

variants or chilicojote

ˌchiləkəˈyōtē

plural -s

1

: any of several gourds of Mexico and the southwestern U.S. (as Echinocystis fabacea, E. marah, Cucurbita ficifolia, and C. foetidissima) or their fruits

2

: the pulp of a chilacayote fruit

Word History

Etymology

chilacoyote borrowed from Mexican Spanish, borrowed from Nahuatl tzilacayohtli, chilacayohtli, from tzilac-, chilac-, element of uncertain origin + ayohtli "squash, calabash"; chili cojote, chili-cojote, alteration of chilacoyote (perhaps directly from an unrecorded form in 19th-century California Spanish)

Note: For Nahuatl attestations see Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl, University of Texas Press, 1983, s.v. tzilacayohtli.

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