monaguillo
Spanish
Etymology
From Old Spanish *monago (“monk”, preliterary; cf. Old Leonese monago) + -illo (diminutive ending).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /monaˈɡiʝo/ [mo.naˈɣ̞i.ʝo] (Equatorial Guinea, most of Spain and Latin America)
- IPA(key): /monaˈɡiʎo/ [mo.naˈɣ̞i.ʎo] (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
- IPA(key): /monaˈɡiʃo/ [mo.naˈɣ̞i.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
- IPA(key): /monaˈɡiʒo/ [mo.naˈɣ̞i.ʒo] (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)
- Rhymes: -iʝo (Equatorial Guinea, most of Spain and Latin America)
- Rhymes: -iʎo (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
- Rhymes: -iʃo (Buenos Aires and environs)
- Rhymes: -iʒo (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)
- Syllabification: mo‧na‧gui‧llo
Noun
monaguillo m (plural monaguillos)
- alternative form of monacillo (“altar boy, acolyte”)
- 1994, José Ángel Mañas, chapter VII, in Historias del Kronen, Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, →ISBN, page 101:
- —Hay que ser un poco monaguillo, Carlitos. Me he camelado a mi primo para que se ponga en mi lugar hoy.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
References
- Coromines, Joan; Pascual, José Antonio (1985), “monje”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic etymological dictionary][1] (in Spanish), volume IV (Me–Re), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 128
Further reading
- “monaguillo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025