Aztec Pronunciation

A short ‘o’, short ‘e’, the ‘i’ like ‘ee’, and the z is like an English s, so simply ‘noCHESlee’.

We’ve not come across this word, but in principle we’d suggest -
She-cloo-SEE-an.

This is a tricky one. We’re not native Nahuatl speakers but our best guess would be -
’Tee-AH-cow’, with the emphasis on the ‘a’ and a lightly aspirated ‘h’; the ‘cow’ like the English word.
Hope this helps a little...

Thanks for your kind words.
The ‘X’ is pronounced ‘sh’, the ‘o’ is short, as in English ‘hot’, the ‘i’ is short too, like ‘hit’, the ‘qu’ is like ‘k’ in English, and is NOT pronounced ‘kw’. So the whole word is, roughly, ‘Sho-chi-kEtzal’. The emphasis falls on the ‘e’.

‘E’ and ‘he’ are pronounced as a short vowel, as in our ‘bed’
’Ca’ is also a short vowel, pronounced ‘cu’ as in our ‘cup’
’Chichitli’ is roughly ‘cheeCHEEtly’, with emphasis on the CHEE.
Hope this helps!

Pronounce the two ‘hue’ bits like the English ‘wet’ but without the ‘t’, so just ‘we’ but with a SHORT ‘e’. ‘Tla’ more or less as is, and ‘tolli’ as well - note all the vowels are SHORT - though try and make the two ‘l’s slightly separate, as if it was ‘tol-li’, NOT just ‘toli’. The final ‘i’ is short too, rhyming with English lolly.
Hope this helps a little!

Like ‘tok’, but pause briefly (but don’t exhale) after the ‘t’, so ‘t-ok’.

Each ‘a’ is pronounced like a short ‘u’ in English, as in ‘up’ and the final ‘e’ short like the ‘e’ in ‘egg’.

Something like ‘Kwow-o-SE-lot(l)’. The ‘SE’ is a short ‘e’, as in English ‘set’. The ‘l’ is hardly pronounced at all. Hope this helps.

It’s Ya-REE-sha.

Both syllables are pronounced like double ee in English, ie ‘cheemeel’.

Thanks for writing in. We could give you very basic guidelines if other routes prove fruitless, but we’ve written to a couple of experts to ask them for help, and we expect to write to you directly...

Tezcacoatl is pronounced ‘TescaCOat(l)’, the final ‘l’ being aspirated.
For Aztec names see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nahuatl_name.

Sorry, we’ve tried but can’t find this!

The ‘l’ is ALMOST silent, but not completely. Try saying ‘atlas’, but stopping after the ‘tl’, ie ‘atl’.

Thanks for putting us right on this point: readers, please note!

ALMOST correct! The emphasis falls on the penultimate syllable, and the final ‘uitl’ is all one syllable, so the accent should come on the KWAH-weetl (the final ‘l’ is barely pronounced). Hope this helps.

We’d go for ‘eek-nYOU-tlee’ and ‘YO-leeah’.

Try ‘way tlama-we-sol-TEE-ca’ (way as in the English word; the a’s like an English short u as in ‘cup’)

Apologies! No, the stress always falls on the penultimate syllable, so on the ‘xoch’.

Try: NESHteek for the first word. Tochtli is pronounced pretty well exactly as it looks - TOHchtlee.

1. ‘Sho-PAN-tlah’: ‘pan’ pronounced like the English word ‘pun’.
2. ‘Tyan-KEY-stlee’: ‘tyan’ like the English ‘tun’ but adding a ‘y’.
Emphasis always on the penultimate syllable.
Hope this helps!

ShpeeAyoc. Emphasis is always on the penultimate syllable, so on the ‘A’. The A is pronounced like ‘up’ in English. Hope this helps a little.

a) TlEEl-tic and b) YOL-lotl. In both cases emphasis on the first syllable. The final ‘tl’ in yollotl should be pronounced like the ‘tl’ in the English phrase ‘at last’, NOT like the English ‘battle’.

Cheers!

Tla-wees-cal-pan-teh-COO(h)T-lee. The a’s should be pronounced like an English short ‘u’ as in ‘up’. Try to lightly aspirate the ‘h’ in brackets. Hope this helps!

Just like it looks, with the ‘a’ as a ‘u’ in ‘up’.

The emphasis falls on the POCH bit. The ‘hui’ is pronounced like ‘wee’. The first ‘a’ is long. The ‘ch’ is soft, like ‘cheese’. So try -
Tlar-wee-POCH-tlee...

Te and pe are pronounced with a short ‘e’ as in ‘pet’ in English. In yollotl similarly the ‘o’ is short, as in ‘hot’. The emphasis falls on the first ‘o’. The ‘tl’ at the end is best pronounced simply as a ‘t’, NOT with a full syllable as in the English ‘bottle’. Try saying ‘Atlantic’ but stop after the ‘Atl’, to give you an idea of the gentle sound. So overall it’s something like Te-pe-YOL-lot(l). Hope this helps a little.

1) Ach-KOWH-tlee (try and aspirate the ‘h’ a little); note the ‘cau’ is pronounced like ‘cow’ in English, not ‘coat’
2) A-wee-LEE-stlee

It’s pronounced ‘SHOcheet’. The ‘tl’ at the end is barely pronounced anyway, so it’s not really making much difference if you actively leave it off.

Here are the individual ‘bits’:-
’tol’-’leet’-’tseen’-’TLEE’-’co’. So something like ‘tolleetseenTLEEco’. Hope that helps!

Exactly the same, only the ‘x’ is pronounced ‘sh’.

Tlazolteotl is, roughly, ‘Tla-sol-TAY-ot’. The first ‘a’ is pronounced more like ‘cup’ rather than ‘cap’.
Micatecacihuatl is, roughly, ‘Mee-ca-te-ca-SEE-wat’. Again, the ‘a’s should be pronounced like a short ‘u’ as in the English ‘cup’ rather than ‘cap’. The ‘te’ is short too, as in English ‘’bet’.
The final ‘l’ is barely pronounced.

Putting it very simply, take the pronunciation of the English ‘car nut’ and copy it to say the word Nahuatl - as in ‘Nar’ - ‘wat’. So if you say NARWUT just as you’d say ‘car nut’, you’re pretty well ‘there’. The final ‘l’ is barely pronounced, so best to leave it out altogether. Hope that’s not too crude a guide!

Something like ‘Kwetlashocheet’. The final ‘l’ is soft and barely pronounced.

‘Tlazotla’ is pretty well as it looks, ie ‘tlasotla’.
’I love you’ in Nahuatl is Nimitztlazotla. ‘Ni’ is I, ‘mitz’ is you, and obviously ‘tlazotla’ is love.

Try ‘tlapEEshky’.

Almost! Just remember that the ‘x’ at the end is like ‘sh’ in English, so the word would be pronounced ‘namacuish’, with emphasis on the second ‘a’.

No. The Aztecs spoke Nahuatl and the Maya spoke one of a number of regional languages, the two most important being Yucatec and K’iche. There was a ‘buffer zone’ in between, where Chontal is spoken: it was common for Chontal speakers to be familiar with Nahuatl as well as Yucatec Maya, so they could act as intermediaries - the most famous example being Malintzin (who interpreted for Cortés).

No, because you pronounce it exactly as it reads/looks! (Tla-loc, with the emphasis on the Tla)

Pretty well as it reads, with the ‘z’ pronounced as ‘s’. Where did you come across this word? We can’t find any Nahuatl word beginning with ‘azco...’ in our dictionaries...

Try ‘ya’ followed by ‘ot’, with the emphasis on the first syllable. The ‘l’ at the end is barely pronounced.

It means spring or (water) fountain. UM-E(as in ‘end’)-YUL-LEE.

Great ideas. Thanks!

‘EEweetl’, with the ‘tl’ pronounced as in English ‘atlas’.

Most people spell it HUITZILOPOCHTLI.

Try ‘AsCOtatl’, with the emphasis on the O and the tl pronounced as in English ‘atlas’.
We’ve never come across a word for hammock, but let’s see what others have found...

I don’t actually think there is or should be any accent in between the ‘te’ and the ‘tl’. In any case the pronunciation is pretty well the same in both cases, just drop the ‘o’.

1) Ton-a-CAY-ot(l), Ton short as in English ‘don’, CAY as in (English) ‘pie’
2) O-me-YO-can, O and YO short as in English ‘on’, me short as in English ‘tell’
3) (I suspect it’s Ometeotl): O-me-TE-ot(l), again short ‘e’ each time
4) KA-weet(l), KA short as in English ‘cup’
The final ‘l’ is hardly pronounced.
Hope this helps a little...!

It’s actually Tecuciztecatl, pronounced roughly as follows: TEC-KOO-SIS-TEC-ATL.

That’s an easy one! Just like it reads: T L A L O C.

Roughly: CHAL-CHEW-TLEE-KWAY.

You should be able to do this either by right-clicking on the sound files or using control-click (on a Mac) - pressing the control key while using the mouse to click on the file. This brings up a little options menu, including ‘Save as Source...’ on your computer.

It’s jolly hard to answer this using text alone, but a very rough approximation would be:-
sho-chee-ya-OH-yot
There is an ‘l’ at the end, but it’s hardly pronounced. In both cases, the ‘o’ sound is short - as in ‘shot’ rather than ‘show’.

Dr. Patrick Johansson provides this answer:-
Tohuanyolqui in oc achi tlatquitl.

Approximately: ‘Way Te-KWEEL-weet.’ The final ‘l’ is barely pronounced. Hope this helps.

Yes! Clearly there’s a similarity in the shape...

Good points, Pakal, thanks for writing in.

Thanks for spotting these gaps: now filled!

Cheers - now sorted!

Thanks for this. We’ve concentrated up to now on words that are more tricky to pronounce, like gods’ names! But you’ve raised a great idea: a glossary of common/important words. Uh uh, another project for us.......