cenzontle

Spanish

Alternative forms

• cenzonte (Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico)
• senzonte (Honduras)
• sinsonte (Cuba, Honduras, Mexico)

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl centzontleh, shortened form of centzontlahtōleh (“mockingbird”, literally “possessor of four hundred words”), from centzontli (“four hundred, a count of four hundred”) + tlahtōlli (“language, word, statement”) + -eh (“possessor of”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /θenˈθontle/ [θẽn̟ˈθõn̪.t̪le]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /senˈsontle/ [sẽnˈsõn̪.t̪le]
• Rhymes: -ontle
• Syllabification: cen‧zon‧tle

Noun

cenzontle m (plural cenzontles)

1. mockingbird

Further reading

• “cenzontle”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10