colmillo
Spanish
Etymology
Inherited from Vulgar Latin columellus (“canine tooth, tusk”) (attested in Isidore of Seville), masculine variant of columella (literally “small column, pillar”), diminutive of columna (“column”). Used Classically to refer to the grinding teeth of horses in Varro and Pliny in the form columellārēs dentēs (literally “pillar-formed teeth”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kolˈmiʝo/ [kolˈmi.ʝo] (most of Spain and Latin America)
- IPA(key): /kolˈmiʎo/ [kolˈmi.ʎo] (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
- IPA(key): /kolˈmiʃo/ [kolˈmi.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
- IPA(key): /kolˈmiʒo/ [kolˈmi.ʒo] (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)
- Rhymes: -iʝo (most of Spain and Latin America)
- Rhymes: -iʎo (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
- Rhymes: -iʃo (Buenos Aires and environs)
- Rhymes: -iʒo (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)
- Syllabification: col‧mi‧llo
Noun
colmillo m (plural colmillos)
- (teeth) canine tooth
- tusk, fang
Derived terms
Related terms
See also
Further reading
- “colmillo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024