caudillo

See also: Caudillo

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

substratebor.?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *káput

Proto-Italic *kaput

Latin capit-

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -lus

Latin -ellum

Late Latin capitellum

Old Spanish cabdiello

Spanish caudillobor.

English caudillo

From Spanish caudillo, from Late Latin capitellum, based on Latin caput, capitis (“head”). Doublet of caddie, cadel, cadet, capital, and capitellum.

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^[1], archived from the original on 1 July 2026:

     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^[2], 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: kaudiyo
• Japanese: 総統 (ja) (sōtō)
• Portuguese: caudilho (pt) m
• Russian: кауди́льо (ru) m (kaudílʹo)
• Spanish: caudillo (es) m
• Swedish: caudillo c
• Thai: เกาดิโย (gaw-dì-yôo)

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/

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

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

Etymology tree

substratebor.?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *káput

Proto-Italic *kaput

Latin capit-

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -lus

Latin -ellum

Late Latin capitellum

Old Spanish cabdiello

Spanish caudilloubor.

Romanian caudillo

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish caudillo.

Noun

caudillo m (plural caudillo)

1. caudillo

Declension

	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

Etymology tree

substratebor.?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-?

Proto-Indo-European *kap-

Proto-Indo-European *káput

Proto-Italic *kaput

Latin capit-

Proto-Indo-European *-lós

Proto-Indo-European *-elós

Proto-Italic *-elos

Latin -lus

Latin -ellum

Late Latin capitellum

Old Spanish cabdiello

Spanish caudillo

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

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʝo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʝo]

• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʝo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʝo] (Spain, most of Latin America, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʎo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʎo] (rustic northern Spain, northern and central Andes Mountains (except central Ecuador), Bolivia, Paraguay, northeastern Argentina, Philippines)
• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʃo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
• IPA^(key): /kauˈdiʒo/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.ʒo] (central Ecuador, Santiago del Estero and environs, elsewhere in Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)
• IPA^(key): /kauˈdio/ [kau̯ˈð̞i.o] (northern Mexico, Yucatán, Central America (except Panama))

 

• Rhymes: -iʝo

• Rhymes: -iʝo (Spain, most of Latin America, Equatorial Guinea)
• Rhymes: -iʎo (rustic northern Spain, northern and central Andes Mountains (except central Ecuador), Bolivia, Paraguay, northeastern Argentina, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -iʃo (Buenos Aires and environs)
• Rhymes: -iʒo (central Ecuador, Santiago del Estero and environs, elsewhere in Pampas and southern Argentina, Uruguay)
• Rhymes: -io (northern Mexico, Yucatán, Central America (except Panama))

• 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^[3], Madrid: Ediciones El País, S.L., →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 April 2023:

     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)

2. warlord

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 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• caudillo on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es