Macehualtin
/ma.seˈwaɬ.tin/noun
A Nahuatl plural term for commoners or ordinary people, especially non-nobles.
Did you know?In Classical Nahuatl, macehualtin is the plural of macehualli, a term for commoners that was embedded in a rigid noble/commoner social system, not a mystical or occult concept.
Etymological Timeline
Classical Nahuatl
Nah
macehualli
“commoner; ordinary person”
Classical Nahuatl
Nah
macehualtin
“commoners; the common people (plural)”
16th Century
Nah/Spanish
macehualtin
“recorded in colonial-era Nahuatl texts as the plural term for commoners”
Modern English
English
macehualtin
“a borrowed scholarly term referring to Nahuatl commoners”
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