pozuelo

Spanish

Etymology

According to Coromines and Pascual, a variant of pocillo (“small bowl”) with a change of diminutive suffix to -uelo, therefore ultimately a term derived from Latin pōculum (“drinking cup”). First attested in the late 19th century.

This term is commonly mentioned as an inherited descendant of Latin puteolus (“small well, pit”) (e.g. by Ralph Penny in A History of the Spanish Language, 1991), or alternatively by surface analysis, pozo +‎ -uelo (e.g. by Real Academia Española), but Coromines and Pascual reject the etymology due to semantic difficulties.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /poˈθwelo/ [poˈθwe.lo]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /poˈswelo/ [poˈswe.lo]
• Rhymes: -elo
• Syllabification: po‧zue‧lo

Noun

pozuelo m (plural pozuelos)

1. bowl
   • 2017 March 13, “¿Servir comida y ya?”, in Juventud Rebelde‎^[1]:

     Aunque actualmente se acomete en varios municipios cubanos un importante plan de reparación en estos sitios, aún muchos de ellos no son lugares tan acogedores como se espera, y los ancianos prefieren regresar a casa con almuerzo y comida en los pozuelos, y alimentarse allá, solos.

     Although a significant reparation plan is being undertaken in numerous Cuban towns, many of them are still not as hospitable as expected, and the elderly prefer to return home with food in their bowls, and eat there, alone.

Further reading

• “pozuelo”, 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