cordel

From Spanish cordel (“surveying rope, 50 varas”), from Catalan cordell (“cord, string”), from Vulgar Latin *cordellus (“little rope”), from Latin chorda (“rope, cord”) + -ellus (“-elle: forming diminutives”). Equivalent to cord +‎ -el.

cordel (plural cordels or cordeles)

1. (historical) Spanish chain, a traditional Spanish and Mexican unit of distance equivalent to about 41.9 m.

• vara (¹⁄₅₀ cordel), estado (¹⁄₂₅ cordel), legua (100 cordeles)

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -ɛl, (Brazil) -ɛw
• Hyphenation: cor‧del

cordel m (plural cordéis)

1. strand (short string)

Borrowed from Catalan cordell (“cord, string”), from Vulgar Latin *cordellus (“little rope, cord, string”), from Latin chorda (“rope, cord”) + -ellus (“-elle: forming diminutives”). Equivalent to corda +‎ -el.

• IPA^(key): /koɾˈdel/ [koɾˈð̞el]
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: cor‧del

cordel m (plural cordeles)

1. string (thin thread)

   Synonym: mecate

2. twine (thin cord or rope)

   Synonym: cuerda

3. (historical) chain (surverying or measuring rope, typically of 50 or 100 varas)
4. (historical) cordel, Spanish chain (a traditional unit of length equivalent to about 41.9 m in 19th-century Spain)

• vara (¹⁄₅₀ cordel), estado (¹⁄₂₅ cordel), legua (100 cordeles)

• “cordel”, 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