1A member of a group of peoples native to southern Mexico and Central America, including the Aztecs.
‘The Virgin appeared to a poor Indian and spoke to him in the only language he knew, not the conquerors' Spanish, but the native Nahuatl.’
‘Earth-boundedness in the symbology of the Nahuatl, the Mexican and central Indian tribes of which the Aztecs were one, contrasts with the spirituality the Virgin of Guadalupe represents.’
‘The Aztecs had conquered the Nahuatl and perhaps had even sacrificed a few of Juan's relatives to the hungry gods.’
‘The professors were a remarkable couple of Native American pastors, Lazaro Gonzalez, a Zapoteco from the State of Oaxaca, and his wife Olivia Dominguez, a Nahuatl from the State of Puebla.’
‘This subplot narrates the story of a book written in Latin by Hernando de Rivas, a Nahuatl, during his stay in the convent of Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco.’
2The Uto-Aztecan language of the Nahuatl.
‘He also knows a few words of Nahuatl, the Aztec language.’
‘She commanded him-in his native Nahuatl to seek out the head of the Mexican church and ask that a chapel devoted to her be erected on Tepeyac.’
‘Marina was used to provide the missing link by translating the Nahuatl into Mayan.’
‘Chimalpahin wrote in an idiosyncratic Nahuatl not always found in colonial grammars and dictionaries or even in the writings of other Nahuas.’
‘Somewhat less familiar will be the author's insistence on including all the original Nahuatl and the additional remarks this sometimes requires.’
adjective
Relating to the Nahuatl or their language.
‘Nandachare means ‘yellow river’ in the Nahuatl language.’
‘The narratives do not differ in any substantial manner but the style derived from the Nahuatl one is striking.’
‘They therefore tried to enforce the use of the Nahuatl Indian name chilli, and were partially successful.’
‘An ocelot has eyes on its skin, but that is purely coincidental; the word comes from the Nahuatl word ocelotl, a jaguar.’
‘Two sources, one Nahuatl and the other Spanish, provide the majority of the documentary extracts.’
Origin
Via Spanish from Nahuatl.
Are You Learning English? Here Are Our Top English Tips