Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Indigenous languages ·1550s
Hurricane
from juracán
- Meaning
- The Taino name for a violent tropical storm — possibly also a deity.
- Source word
- juracán
- Route into English
- Taino → Spanish *huracán* → English via 16th-century Caribbean colonial reports. One of the first Amerindian words to enter standard English.
- Arrived
- 1550s
From Indigenous languages
A loose group: Nahuatl, Taino, Algonquian, Guugu Yimithirr, and others. Colonial contact produced many loans; the speakers were often systematically dispossessed of the land the loanwords described.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.