Mexican Name Finder
Salsa or sauceNahuatlnationwide

Guacamole

"avocado sauce"

Say it

gwah·kah·MOH·leh

Built from

āhuacatlavocado+mōllisauce, mole

What Guacamole means

Guacamole is a Mexican salsa or sauce name of Nahuatl origin meaning "avocado sauce". It is built from āhuacatl (avocado) and mōlli (sauce, mole). It is pronounced gwah-kah-MOH-leh, and it is most associated with the whole country.

Āhuacatl also meant testicle in Classical Nahuatl, a resemblance the Spanish chroniclers duly recorded; the fruit sense is the primary one. Mōlli is the same word that gives mole.

Guacamole is one of the many Mexican food words formed in Nahuatl. Spanish borrowed it, and in several cases English borrowed it again from Spanish. See how Nahuatl builds words and the full list of Mexican food names.

This is a site about what Mexican words mean, so there is no recipe here. For the name itself: Salsa simply means sauce. The interesting names are the older ones: mole from Nahuatl mōlli, guacamole from āhuacamōlli, and pico de gallo, "rooster's beak", whose name nobody can fully explain.

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Guacamole means avocado sauce

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