Nanacatl
/ˌnænəˈkɑːtəl/noun
A Nahuatl-derived term for a mushroom, especially a psychoactive mushroom of the genus Psilocybe.
Did you know?Spanish chroniclers recorded that Indigenous Mexicans used certain nanacatl mushrooms ceremonially and described their effects as visions and ecstatic speech.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian period
Proto-Nahuan
*nanakatl
“Reconstructed ancestor of the Nahuatl word for mushroom or fungus”
15th–16th Century
Classical Nahuatl
nanacatl
“Mushroom or fungus”
16th Century
Classical Nahuatl
teonanácatl
““God mushroom” or “sacred mushroom,” a ceremonial term recorded by Spanish observers”
16th Century
Spanish
nanacatl
“A Nahuatl loanword used in colonial descriptions of Indigenous mushrooms”
20th–21st Century
English
nanacatl
“A specialized term for a mushroom, particularly a psychoactive Psilocybe mushroom”
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