Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Spanish ·1690s
Tortilla
from tortilla
- Meaning
- A thin flatbread made from corn or wheat flour, central to Mexican cuisine.
- Source word
- tortilla
- Route into English
- Spanish *tortilla* ("little cake," diminutive of *torta*) → English via Mexican cooking in the Southwest. The Mexican corn tortilla and the Spanish egg tortilla are unrelated dishes sharing a name.
- Arrived
- 1690s
From Spanish
American Spanish, not peninsular Spanish, provided most of the modern loanwords — through US expansion westward and Latin American trade.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.