Cihuātl
/siˈwaːtɬ/noun
A Classical Nahuatl word meaning “woman,” “female,” or, in some contexts, “wife.”
Did you know?Cihuātl appears in names such as Cihuācōātl, the Nahua “Woman Serpent” deity associated with motherhood, warfare, and the earth.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Uto-Aztecan (reconstructed)
PUA
*ciwa
“Reconstructed ancestral term associated with woman or female; the reconstruction is comparative rather than directly recorded.”
Early Colonial Period
Nahuatl
cihuātl
“Woman, female, or wife.”
16th Century
Classical Nahuatl
cihuācōātl
“Woman-serpent; a title or name connected with a major female deity.”
16th–17th Century
Spanish
cihuatl / cihuatl
“A Spanish-recorded form of the Nahuatl word, preserved in missionary dictionaries and colonial texts.”
Modern English
English
cihuātl
“A specialized linguistic and cultural term used in English discussions of Nahuatl language and religion.”
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