Teonanacatl
/te.o.naˈka.tɬ/noun
A Nahuatl term for psychoactive mushrooms, especially those used ceremonially in central Mexico.
Did you know?Sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers recorded that Indigenous ritual specialists consumed teonanacatl during ceremonies involving visions, divination, and contact with the supernatural.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian period
Nahuatl
teōnanācatl
“A compound of teōtl, “god” or “divine,” and nanācatl, “flesh” or “mushroom.””
16th Century
Classical Nahuatl
teonanácatl
“A sacred or divine mushroom, described in Indigenous ceremonial contexts.”
1560s
Spanish
teonanácatl
“A reported Indigenous name for intoxicating mushrooms in colonial accounts.”
17th–19th Century
European scholarship
teonanacatl
“A transliterated Nahuatl term preserved in ethnographic and botanical writing.”
Modern English
English
teonanacatl
“A specialized term for sacred psychoactive mushrooms associated with Mesoamerican ritual use.”