When Columbus rocked up to the Americas in 1492, he didn’t just bring back gold and potatoes – he also kickstarted a linguistic revolution. Spanish suddenly had a whole new vocabulary to play with, borrowed from indigenous languages like Nahuatl, Quechua, and Taíno. Some of these words are so baked into modern Spanish that you’d never guess they weren’t originally European.
Food words that changed Spanish forever
Honestly, half the stuff in a Spanish supermarket today wouldn’t exist without American imports. Here’s the culinary hall of fame:
- Tomate – from Nahuatl 'tomatl' (because obviously Europe was eating bland salads before this)
- Chocolate – from Nahuatl 'xocolātl', because the Aztecs were way ahead of the hot chocolate game
- Patata – from Taíno 'batata', though the Spanish initially confused sweet potatoes with actual potatoes
- Aguacate – from Nahuatl 'āhuacatl', which also gave us 'avocado' in English
Cacao
/kaˈkao/“Cocoa”
Nature words that hitched a ride to Europe
Turns out the Americas had animals and weather phenomena Europe had never seen. Spanish speakers had to borrow words for these too:
- Caníbal – from Taíno 'caniba', because the Carib people’s reputation preceded them
- Huracán – from Taíno 'hurakán', proving Caribbean storms deserved a special name
- Cóndor – from Quechua 'kuntur', because Andean birds needed a proper title
Everyday words you wouldn’t expect
Some American loanwords are so common in Spanish now that they feel 100% European. Ever used any of these?
- Hamaca (hammock) – from Taíno 'hamaka', because napping in a suspended bed was genius
- Cacahuete (peanut) – from Nahuatl 'tlālcacahuatl', literally 'earth cocoa bean'
- Chicle (chewing gum) – from Nahuatl 'tzictli', the original gum base
If you’re into regional Spanish quirks, check out our guide on Spanish words that change meaning by country – some American loanwords took different paths in different places.
Why this matters for Spanish learners
You might think this is just trivia, but knowing where words come from actually helps memorise them. For example:
- Words ending in '-te' (like 'tomate' and 'aguacate') often have Nahuatl roots
- Double 'c' spellings (like 'cacao') are a giveaway for American origins
- If a word exists in English too (chocolate, hurricane), it probably came via Spanish from an American language
Want more language history? The evolution of Czech shows how Slavic languages changed over time too.
