English Reference
noun

nachos

n.
US /ˈnæˌtʃoʊz/ UK /nˈætʃəʊz/ na·chos

  1. 01 B1 Intermediate Cooking

    a snack or meal made of tortilla chips covered in cheese and other toppings.

    a dish of tortilla chips topped with melted cheese and often additional ingredients such as salsa, sour cream, or meat.

    Simple

    We ordered a large plate of nachos to share while we watched the game.

    In context

    The restaurant serves gourmet nachos topped with slow-cooked brisket, pickled onions, and a house-made queso sauce.

    Usage

    Usually plural; the singular 'nacho' refers to an individual chip.


Borrowed from Mexican Spanish nachos, from Nacho. Nacho is a common diminutive form of Ignacio (“Ignatius”) in Spanish. The Mexican creator of the dish, Ignacio Anaya (1895–1975), named it after himself in 1943: Nacho's Especiales.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Origin es-MX nachos
Level B1 · Intermediate
Frequency Occasional
Updated