caballo

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish caballo (“horse”).

Noun

caballo (plural caballos)

1. A horse.
   • 1829, James Wilson, A Brief Memoir of the Life of James, With Extracts from His Journal and Correspondence, Written Chiefly During a Residence in Guatemala, Etc, page 43:

     The very idea of a false step of my caballo made the blood run cold.

   • 1924, Stephen Chalmers, Four in One Westerns, page 10:

     Impatiently turning his caballo's head he started the animal at an easy one-step gait in a southerly direction.

   • 1995, Sherry Garland, Indio, page 85:

     The long tail and mane of all the caballos were magnificent to see as the españoles rode them and played games.

Usage notes

• Used mainly in Latin American contexts.

Aragonese

Alternative forms

• caball

Etymology

From Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”), of disputed origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbaʎo/
• Syllabification: ca‧ba‧llo
• Rhymes: -aʎo

Noun

caballo m (plural caballos)

1. horse

References

• “caballo”, in Aragonario, diccionario aragonés–castellano (in Spanish)
• “caballo”, in Diccionario ortografico de l’aragonés (seguntes la PO de l’EFA)‎^[1], Zaragoza: EDACAR, 2023, →ISSN

Chavacano

Etymology

From Spanish caballo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbaʎo/, [kaˈba.ʎo]
• Hyphenation: ca‧ba‧llo

Noun

caballo

1. horse
2. (chess) knight

Related terms

• caballito

Classical Nahuatl

Noun

caballo

1. alternative spelling of cahuallo

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kaˈbal.loː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [kaˈbal.lo]

Noun

caballō

1. dative/ablative singular of caballus

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”), of disputed origin. Compare Portuguese cavalo.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbaʝo/ [kaˈβ̞a.ʝo]

• IPA^(key): /kaˈbaʝo/ [kaˈβ̞a.ʝo] (Equatorial Guinea, most of Spain and Latin America)
• IPA^(key): /kaˈbaʎo/ [kaˈβ̞a.ʎo] (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
• IPA^(key): /kaˈbaʃo/ [kaˈβ̞a.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /kaˈbaʒo/ [kaˈβ̞a.ʒo] (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)

 

• Rhymes: -aʝo

• Rhymes: -aʝo (Equatorial Guinea, most of Spain and Latin America)
• Rhymes: -aʎo (rural northern Spain, Andes Mountains, Paraguay, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aʃo (Buenos Aires and environs)
• Rhymes: -aʒo (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)

• Syllabification: ca‧ba‧llo

Noun

caballo m (plural caballos, feminine yegua, feminine plural yeguas)

1. horse
2. (chess) knight
3. (slang) heroin

   Synonym: heroína

   • 1994, José Ángel Mañas, chapter IX, in Historias del Kronen, Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, →ISBN, page 132:

     Un yonqui, de espaldas a la cámara, hace unas declaraciones: ahora, el que tiene billetes, se mete coca, o, si toma caballo, se lo mete con plata, lo fuma, ¿sabes?

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

4. (slang) ox (strong clumsy person)
5. (slang, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico) master, hotshot

Hyponyms

• caballo de carreras (“racehorse”)
• caballo de guerra (“war horse”)
• caballo de paso
• caballo de silla (“saddle horse”)
• caballo de tiro (“draft horse, draught horse, plow horse”)

Derived terms

• a caballo
• a caballo regalado no le mires el diente
• acaballar
• alma de caballo
• caballazo
• caballito
• caballo con arcos
• caballo de agua
• caballo de batalla
• caballo de fuerza (“horsepower”)
• caballo de mano
• caballo de mar
• caballo de palo
• caballo de Przewalski
• caballo de regalo
• caballo de Troya
• caballo de vapor
• caballo del diablo
• caballo marino
• cepa caballo
• cola de caballo
• cuerpo de caballo
• de caballo
• diente de caballo
• el ojo del amo engorda al caballo
• hierba del caballo
• más lento que el caballo del malo
• menta de caballo
• mozo de caballos
• oso caballo
• pie de caballo
• poner a los pies de los caballos
• poner el carro delante del caballo
• sota, caballo y rey
• uña de caballo

Related terms

• cabalgar
• cabalgata
• cabalino
• caballada
• caballar (relational)
• caballerango
• caballería
• caballeriza
• caballero
• caballete
• caballista
• caballito
• caballote
• caballuno (relational)
• de caballo
• ecuestre (relational)
• equino (relational)
• hípico (relational)

Descendants

• Chavacano: caballo
• Papiamentu: cabai
• → Alcozauca Mixtec: kuái̱
• → Aymara: kawallu
• → Central Bikol: kabayo
• → Cahuilla: kaváayu
• → Cebuano: kabayo
• → Central Huasteca Nahuatl: kauayoj
• → Central Nahuatl: cahuayoh
• → Chamicuro: kawali
• → Chaná: kuayó, cauáio (uncertain)
• → Chol: cawayuʼ
• → Classical Nahuatl: cahuāllo, caballo, cahualloh, cahuayo, cauallo, cavallo
• → Ilocano: kabalio
• → Ivatan: kabayu
• → Kavalan: kbayu
• → Kapampangan: kabayu
• → Lake Miwok: kawáj
• → Mecayapan Nahuatl: cahua̱yoj
• → Mapudungun: kawell, kawellu
• → Maranao: kabayo
• → Mbya Guarani: kavaju
• → Nivaclé: cuvôyu
• → O'odham: kawyu
• → Papantla Totonac: kawayu
• → Paraguayan Guarani: kavaju
• → Pipil: kāwayu
• → Quechua: kawallu
• → Sayula Popoluca: cawa̱yu
• → Seri: caay
• → Tagalog: kabayo
• → Waray-Waray: kabayo
• → Yatzachi Zapotec: cabey
• → Yosondúa Mixtec: kuayu
• → Zoogocho Zapotec: cabayw

See also

• caballa
• jamelgo m, jamelga f
• potro m, potra f
• semental
• yegua

Further reading

• “caballo”, 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
• “caballo”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010