Campeche
/kamˈpe.tʃe/noun
A state and city on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, and the name of a tropical hardwood traditionally used to produce red and purple dyes.
Did you know?The Campeche tree, known in English as logwood, became economically important because its heartwood yields hematoxylin, a dye later used in textiles and biological staining.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian period
Maya
kaan peech
“A traditional proposed source meaning “snake and tick”; the exact place-name analysis remains uncertain.”
16th Century
Spanish
Campeche
“Spanish colonial form of the Indigenous place name on the Yucatán coast.”
16th–17th Centuries
Spanish/English
palo de Campeche / campeche wood
“The Campeche tree and its valuable dye-producing heartwood.”
Modern English
English
Campeche
“A Mexican state and city, and a name used for the tropical logwood tree or its dye.”
Explore more surprising origins