Animals, plants & weatherMyths & disputes

axolotl

The Mexican salamander keeps its Nahuatl name āxōlōtl, built from ātl 'water' and the name of the god Xolotl; Mexican Spanish made it ajolote, while English took the Nahuatl spelling in the 1780s and passed it to the laboratories and aquariums of Europe and Asia.

Weakest linkProbable

The story you may have heard

That axolotl definitely means 'water dog' or 'water monster'. Xōlōtl is a god's name and also glossed 'servant, slave, twin, slippery one'; the translations range widely and none is settled.

The road to English

From Classical Nahuatl to Mexican Spanish, Portuguese

From English to French, Romanian

From English to German

From English to Russian

From English to Japanese

From English to Korean

1570Classical Nahuatl

Hops are evenly spaced; labels show the year each form is first attested.

Export “axolotl”

Embed “axolotl”

Save “axolotl”

Export “axolotl”

Embed “axolotl”

Save “axolotl”