caudillo

See also: Caudillo

English

Etymology

From Spanish caudillo, from Late Latin capitellum, based on Latin caput, capitis (“head”). Doublet of caddie, cadel, cadet, capital, and capitellum. More possible, from kaput and ili (iri, ür, uri: town), from Basque language. In Iberian ili is high point, high city.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔˈdiː(j)oʊ/, /kaʊˈdiː(j)oʊ/

Noun

caudillo (plural caudillos)

1. A leader.
   • 2020 June 1, Aris Roussinos, Covid has exposed America as a failed state‎:

     While an America in decline may throw up a more competent caudillo than Trump in time, it is difficult to reasonably conclude that it possesses the societal solidarity to wage a decades-long, global struggle against a near-competitor.

2. A military dictator, especially one ruling in Spain, Portugal or Latin America.
   • 1994 October 14, Dallas Morning News:

     For, despite all the debunking and cynicism in this generation, there still are, amazingly, trusting people around who need to believe in great helmsmen, dear leaders, fuhrers, presidents-for-life, generalissimos and charismatic caudillos.

   • 2024 August 13, Marc Margolis, Opinion: Want to reform the Supreme Court? These strongmen can show a thing or two‎, NPR:

     Then there’s Mexico’s outgoing populist and wannabe caudillo, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is pushing a crowd-pleasing law to require all judges be elected by popular vote, including to the Supreme Court.

Derived terms

• caudilloism
• caudilloship

Translations

military dictator in South America

Chinese: Mandarin: 考迪羅 / 考迪罗 (kǎodíluó) Finnish: sotilasdiktaattori French: caudillo (fr) m Indonesian: caudillo Portuguese: caudilho (pt) m Russian: кауди́льо (ru) m (kaudílʹo) Spanish: caudillo (es) m Swedish: caudillo c

See also

• caudillismo

Further reading

• caudillo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• lodicula

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish caudillo, from Late Latin capitellum. Doublet of cadeau, cadet, and chapiteau.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaw.di.jo/, /ko.di.jo/

Noun

caudillo m (plural caudillos)

1. caudillo

Further reading

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

Romanian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish caudillo.

Noun

caudillo m (plural caudillo)

1. caudillo

Declension

Declension of caudillo

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	caudillo	caudilloul		caudillo	caudilloi
genitive-dative	caudillo	caudilloului		caudillo	caudillolor
vocative	caudilloule			caudillolor

Spanish

Alternative forms

• cabdillo (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish cabdiello, from Late Latin capitellum, based on Latin capitem.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʝo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʝo]

• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʝo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʝo] (most of Spain and Latin America)
• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʎo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʎo] (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʃo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʒo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʒo] (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)

 

• Rhymes: -iʝo

• Rhymes: -iʝo (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: cau‧di‧llo

Noun

caudillo m (plural caudillos)

1. military leader, caudillo
   • 2019 May 16, Jorge Zepeda Patterson, “¿Y ahora qué hacemos con los caudillos?”, in El País‎:

     La revista The Economist que circula esta semana incluye una larga pieza en la que alerta sobre el fenómeno populista que recorre el continente […] América Latina, afirma, tiene una debilidad no superada por sus caudillos.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• acaudillar
• caudillaje m
• caudillazgo m
• caudillismo m

Descendants

• → Catalan: cabdill (from obsolete form cabdillo)
• → English: caudillo
• → French: caudillo
• → Portuguese: caudilho
• → Russian: кауди́льо (kaudílʹo)

Further reading

• “caudillo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• caudillo on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es