chachalaca

Late 19th century. From South American Spanish chachalaca, from Nahuatl.Nahuatl

chachalaca (plural chachalacas)

1. Any of several cracid birds, of the genus Ortalis, limited to the Americas, that resemble the guans.

• buff-browed chachalaca, Ortalis superciliaris
• Chaco chachalaca, Ortalis canicollis
• chestnut-winged chachalaca, Ortalis garrula
• Colombian chachalaca, Ortalis columbiana (subspecies of speckled chachalaca)
• grey-headed chachalaca, Ortalis cinereiceps
• little chachalaca, Ortalis motmot
• plain chachalaca, Ortalis vetula
• rufous-bellied chachalaca, Ortalis wagleri
• rufous-headed chachalaca, Ortalis erythroptera
• rufous-vented chachalaca, Ortalis ruficauda
• speckled chachalaca, chestnut-headed chachalaca, East Brazilian chachalaca, scaled chachalaca, Ortalis guttata
• West Mexican chachalaca, Ortalis poliocephala
• white-bellied chachalaca, Ortalis leucogastra

From Classical Nahuatl chachalacani (“tattler, gossiper”), from chāchalāni (“to make a hubbub, create an uproar”).

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃat͡ʃaˈlaka/

chachalaca f (plural chachalacas)

1. chachalaca
2. (colloquial, Mexico, Central America) babbler, yapper
3. (colloquial, Guatemala) chatter
4. (colloquial, El Salvador) chatty (said of a person)

• “chachalaca” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.