“chilli pepper”
English borrowed it as chili.
Say it
Classical form
chīlli (chilli pepper)
Straight from Nahuatl chīlli through Spanish; the English spellings chili, chilli and chile all descend from it. The Texan dish chili is short for chile con carne and has nothing to do with the country Chile, whose name is unrelated.
Chocolate, tomato, avocado, chili, coyote, ocelot, tamale. English took these from Spanish, and Spanish took them from Nahuatl in the sixteenth century. Most English speakers use a handful of Aztec words before breakfast.
Back to all Nahuatl and Maya words, or see how they combine in Nahuatl names.