cuto

cuto

1. nominative singular masculine of cuta, which is past participle of cavati (“to die away from a world”)

Borrowed from Pipil kutu (“short, dismembered”) cf. Pipil mākutu (“one-armed, with an arm missing”), related to Classical Nahuatl cotoctic (“dismembered”), macotoctic (“dismembered of one arm”), quechcotoctic (“decapitated”).

The DRAE states it is borrowed from a Nahuatl cutuche (“cut”), but this is perhaps a spurious Nahuatl word, not found in Lyle Campbell's Pipil Nawat lexicon.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuto/ [ˈku.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -uto
• Syllabification: cu‧to

cuto (feminine cuta, masculine plural cutos, feminine plural cutas) (colloquial)

1. (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador) missing an arm or forearm; one-armed, or one-forearmed

   Synonym: amputado unilateral

   Mi segunda hija me nació cuta.

   My second daughter was born missing an arm.

   Quedó cuto después del accidente.

   He lost his arm after the accident.

2. (El Salvador, of clothes, especially pants) short

   Synonym: corto

   Esos pantalones te quedan cutos.

   Those pants are too short for you.

• “cuto”, 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
• “cuto”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010