Mexican
/ˈmɛksɪkən/noun
Relating to Mexico or its people.
Did you know?The word ultimately comes from Mexica, the Nahua name of the people who founded Tenochtitlan, and the Spanish -an ending turned that group-name into a modern national identity.
Etymological Timeline
Modern English
English
Mexican
“A person from Mexico or something from Mexico.”
Spanish colonial period
Spanish
mexicano
“Of or belonging to Mexico; a person from Mexico.”
16th Century
Spanish/Nahuatl
México / Mexica
“The place-name Mexico and the Nahua people called the Mexica.”
Pre-Columbian era
Nahuatl
Mēxihco
“The name of the Mexica homeland, later the basis of the city and country name.”
Pre-Columbian era
Nahuatl
Mexica
“The people known in English as the Mexica, rulers of Tenochtitlan.”