⚠ Site currently under repair ⚠

Search Issues: Update 2026-08-06

Some of our more complex, multi-field searches (such as the search field on our homepage and Search All Fields) are currently under repair and may not work as expected.

Thank you to all our users who emailed to alert us to the problem! We hope to have it repaired soon.

Meanwhile, elements of the Advanced Search are working and the Alphabetical Listings are working, too.

cuatzayana.

Headword: 
cuatzayana.
Principal English Translation: 

to injure or cut someone's head with a knife (see Molina)

Orthographic Variants: 
quatzayana
Alonso de Molina: 

quatzayana. nite. (pret. onitequatzayan.) herir, o dar cuchillada a otro en la cabeza, o henderle la cabeza.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 86r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Attestations from sources in English: 

quiquatzayanac yxquich esti oquiquixtilic = he broke her head and made much blood spurt out (Jalostotitlan, 1611)
Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 27, 168–169.

Preterit: oquatzayan. Roots: quaitl and tzayana.
Rémi Siméon, Diccionario de la lengua náhuatl o mexicana, redactado según los documentos.... (Mexico, 1981), 406–407.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

Pretérito: oquatzayan. Raices: quaitl y tzayana. (Siméon)