Mexican Name Finder
IngredientSpanishcentral Mexico

Chorizo

"pork sausage"

Say it

choh·REE·soh

Where it comes from

Spanish chorizo (source disputed)

What Chorizo means

Chorizo is a Mexican ingredient name of Spanish origin meaning "pork sausage". It comes from Spanish chorizo (source disputed). It is pronounced choh-REE-soh, and it is most associated with central Mexico.

Etymology disputed: proposals run from Latin salsicium, salted, to a Vulgar Latin sauricium. Mexican chorizo is sold raw and seasoned with chile and vinegar, unlike the cured Spanish kind.

About this origin. The etymology is uncertain, disputed, or the name is a modern brand rather than an old word. The reading above is the best-supported one; food writing repeats stories that the dictionaries do not confirm.

This is a site about what Mexican words mean, so there is no recipe here. For the name itself: The words that appear inside dish names: the chiles (ancho, guajillo, pasilla, chipotle), the corn words (nixtamal, masa, tortilla, elote), and the tools (comal, molcajete, metate). Learn these and most menu items decode themselves.

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Chorizo means pork sausage

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