pulque

English

A liter of pulque

Etymology

From Mexican Spanish pulque, possibly from Nahuatl.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʊl.keɪ/, /ˈpʊl.ki/

Noun

pulque (countable and uncountable, plural pulques)

1. A milk-colored, somewhat viscous Mexican alcoholic drink made from the fermented sap of certain agave plants.
   • 1957, Jack Kerouac, chapter 6, in On the Road, Viking Press, →OCLC, part 4:

     You went by the sour stink of pulque saloons; they gave you a water glass of cactus juice in there, two cents.

Translations

Mexican alcoholic drink

• Classical Nahuatl: iztāc octli, metoctli, octli
• Esperanto: pulko
• German: Pulque (de) m
• Matlatzinca: t'api
• Spanish: pulque (es)

See also

• mezcal
• tequila

French

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

pulque m (plural pulques)

1. pulque

Further reading

• “pulque”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Etymology

Uncertain. The Classical Nahuatl term for pulque was octli, or specifically iztac octli (“white pulque”). Pulque may be a Spanish derivation of Classical Nahuatl poliuhqui octli (literally “spoiled pulque, spoiled wine”), from poliuhqui (“something lost”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpulke/ [ˈpul.ke]
• Rhymes: -ulke
• Syllabification: pul‧que

Noun

pulque m (plural pulques)

1. pulque (alcoholic beverage)

   Synonym: (Mexico) neutle

Derived terms

• pulquería
• pulquero

 

Descendants

• → English: pulque

Further reading

• “pulque”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28