jícara

See also: jicara

Spanish

Decorated, hand-made jícaras (2) from the Mexican state of Tabasco.

Etymology

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl xīcalli.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxikaɾa/ [ˈxi.ka.ɾa]
• Rhymes: -ikaɾa
• Syllabification: jí‧ca‧ra

Noun

jícara f (plural jícaras)

1. a small faience container used to serve hot chocolate or other hot beverages
2. (Latin America) a small, woody container, typically made from the fruit of the calabash tree (Crescentia cujete) or Mexican calabash (Crescentia alata) and used (especially in rural Mexico) to serve hot food in order to preserve its temperature
3. (Mexico, US, Central America, Philippines) calabash
4. (El Salvador, Nicaragua, colloquial) head
5. (Spain) Part, or square, of a flat chocolate bar, which can be broken off easily (especially in Andalusia and Murcia)

Derived terms

• jicarazo
• jícaro

Descendants

• → Catalan: xicra
• → Sardinian: cìcara
• → English: jicara
• → Portuguese: xícara
• → Sicilian: cìcara
• → Venetan: cìcara

Further reading

• “jícara”, 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
• jícara (vasija) on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es
• jícara (electricidad) on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es