tornillo
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish tornillo (“screw”).
Noun
tornillo (plural tornillos)
- A small tree of species Prosopis pubescens, native to Mexico and parts of the United States, that has spirally twisted pods.
- Synonym: screwbean
- (geology) A low-frequency seismic event associated with volcanoes.
Spanish
Etymology
From torno + -illo, from Latin tornus, from Ancient Greek τόρνος (tórnos).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /toɾˈniʝo/ [t̪oɾˈni.ʝo] (Equatorial Guinea, most of Spain and Latin America)
- IPA(key): /toɾˈniʎo/ [t̪oɾˈni.ʎo] (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
- IPA(key): /toɾˈniʃo/ [t̪oɾˈni.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
- IPA(key): /toɾˈniʒo/ [t̪oɾˈni.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: tor‧ni‧llo
Noun
tornillo m (plural tornillos)
- screw (fastener)
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Tagalog: tornilyo
Further reading
- “tornillo”, 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