(a loanword from Spanish)
a word used by Spaniards for an indigenous ruler; tlatoani or tlahtoani, with the glottal stop (a loanword from Spanish, and before that, from Taíno)
Cacica is what one would expect to see for a woman, although we know of one example where a woman from the Valley of Toluca calls herself a "principala yhuan cacique." (San Pablo Tepemaxalco, Toluca Valley, 1762)
Cacique "sometimes had its original meaning, referring to the head of a dynastic lineage and holder of its right, but more often it simply meant a person of considerable wealth with high standing in the indigenous community." (San Pablo Tepemaxalco, Toluca Valley, 1762)
nehual notoca Maria Micaela yxpocatl = prenSipala = yhuan CaSique = I named Maria Micaela, unmarried woman, principala and cacique. (San Pablo Tepemaxalco, Toluca Valley, 1762)