cueitl.

Headword: 
cueitl.
Principal English Translation: 

a skirt, a petticoat; often, an indigenous woman's skirt; some skirts were made of fabric, some of leather; sometimes paired with huipilli (blouse) as a metaphor for "woman"
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 67.

Orthographic Variants: 
queitl, cuetzintli, cueytl, cueyitl
IPAspelling: 
kweːitɬ
Alonso de Molina: 

cueitl. saya, faldellin, faldillas, o naguas.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 26r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen: 

CUĒ(I)-TL pl: -MEH skirt, petticoat / saya, faldellin, faldillas, o naguas (M), falda, chincuete, vestido (T) Since despite a vowel length discrepancy –CUEXĀNCO ‘lap’ is clearly related, it is possible that this should be CUĒY(I)-TL with the Y appearing as X in the derivation.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 69.

Lockhart’s Nahuatl as Written: 

cuēitl, skirt, especially one in indigenous style. 216
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 216.

Attestations from sources in English: 

"plumis preciosis, ita vocatís inter nos, quetzalli, numero, centum, et etiam frumento cum oneribus centum quadragínta, et vestibus viginti et centum, quadraginta vestibus sic dictis vipillí, et totidem vestibus sic etiam dictis, Cueitl, quibus vtuntur mulieres indȩ." = the precious feathers that among us are called quetzalli, a hundred in number, and also with a hundred and forty weight of grain, a hundred and twenty garments, forty of the so-called huipils, and the same number of the so-called cueitl as well, which Indian women wear." (a Latin text written by a Nahua from Tlaxcala for litigation regarding land in Tula, 1541)
Andrew Laird, "The Earliest Known Text in Latin by a Nahuatl Speaker: Juan de Tlaxcala, 'Verba sociorum domini Petri Tlacauepantzi' (1541)," Ethnohistory 71:4 (October 2024), see pp. 509–510.

Chicocuejtl, patlaoac in jten: coatlaxipeoallo cueitl, patlaoac in jten, xicalcoliuhquj cueitl, patlaoac in jten, tetenacazio cuejtl, patlaoac in jten, tlilpipitzaoac cueitl, patlaoac in jten: cacamoliuhquj iztac cueitl, patlaoac in jten, oçelcuejtl, patlaoac in jtẽ; quappachpipilcac cuejtl, tene: coioichcapipilcac cuejtl tene = The skirt with an irregular [design], having a wide border; the skirt with serpent skins, having a wide border; the skirt with the step meander, having a wide border, the skirt with squared corner stones, having a wide border; the skirt with thin, black lines, having a wide border; the white skirt [like a] bed covering, having a wide border; the ocelot skin skirt, having a wide border; the skirt with brown pendants, having a border; the skirt with coyote fur pendants, having a border (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 8 -- Kings and Lords, no. 14, Part IX, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1951), 47.

cueitl, huipilli = "If it was a girl, a huipilli and cueitl, girls' clothes, as well as a case, a distaff, and a spindle -- all things concerned with sewing -- would be given to her." (Central Mexico, 1571–1615)
The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández, ed. Simon Varey, transl. Rafael Chabrán, Cynthia L. Chamberlin, and Simon Varey (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000), 68.

in ticueye in tivipille in pilli tiçivauh tiçivauh in tequiva tiçivauh in achcauhtli tiçivauh = you with the skirts, you with the wives of valiant warriors, you the wives of the constables
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 232.

ioan imeoacue in incioaoa, ca iehoantin quiiamania, quioaoana = their women's skirts are leather; they (the women) soften it and scrape it (Tlatelolco, 1540–80)
James Lockhart, Nahuatl as Written: Lessons in Older Written Nahuatl, with Copious Examples and Texts (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Studies, 2001), 196.

noxhuiuh ytoCa maria Bauhtista nicmaCatiuh Centetl huipili yhuan Centetl Cueytl Ce Sotl morado se Sotl berde yhua Centetl metlatl = I am giving my grandchild María Bautista a huipil, a skirt with one length purple and one length green, and a metate. (1673, Mexico City)
Jonathan Truitt, Sustaining the Divine in Mexico Tenochtitlan: Nahuas and Catholicism, 1523–1700 (Oceanside, CA: The Academy of American Franciscan History; Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 2018), 249, 253.

yn itoca Juan diego nechhuiquilia çentetl tzomihuipili yhuan çenSotl tzomicueytl = one named Juan Diego owes me a huipil of wool and a skirt of wool of one standard length (San Miguel Aticpac, Toluca Valley, 1707)
Caterina Pizzigoni, ed., Testaments of Toluca (Stanford: Stanford University Press and UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 2007), 67.

The cueitl, or female skirt, was a wide piece of cotton, maguey, yucca, or palm-fiber cloth wrapped around the lower body and secured on the waist. It was worn by women throughout Mesoamerica.
Justyna Olko, Turquoise Diadems and Staffs of Office: Elite Costume and Insignia of Power in Aztec and Early Colonial Mexico (Warsaw: Polish Society for Latin American Studies and Centre for Studies on the Classical Tradition, University of Warsaw, 2005), 102.

in tecueye in tivipille in pilli tiçivauh in tecutli tiçivauh in tequiva tiçivauh in achcauhtli tiçuvauh (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 232.

cueytl huipilli quitetlatlalochtia = They took and ran off with the women
Codex Chimalpahin: Society and Politics in Mexico Tenochtitlan, Tlatelolco, Culhuacan, and Other Nahuatl Altepetl in Central Mexico; The Nahuatl and Spanish Annals and Accounts Collected and Recorded by don Domingo de San Antón Muñón Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Susan Schroeder (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), vol. 1, 224, 225.

auh in ichpochtli mochichiuaia yancuic yn icue, ioan yn ivipil: mopotoniaya = And the maidens arrayed themselves; their skirts and shifts were new. They pasted themselves with red feathers. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 221.

ce huipilli yztac tonaltecayotl yhuan ce cueitl mexicayotl xoxouqui = a white huipil in the Tonallan style and a green Mexica-style skirt (Saltillo, 1627)
Leslie S. Offutt, "Levels of Acculturation in Northeastern New Spain; San Esteban Testaments of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries," Estudios de cultura náhuatl 22 (1992), 409–443, see page 426–427.

auh njcan tonoc, njcã tica in tiquauhtli, in tocelotl: aviz ie tehoatl, in ticueitl, tivipilli = And here thou art settled, here thou art present, thou who art the eagle warrior, the ocelot warrior. And here art thou who art a woman (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 67.

Auh in cihoapiltontli, qujcencavilia cuetontli, vipiltontli, ioan in jxqujch cioatlatqujtl, tanatontli, malacatl, tzotzopaztli = And they prepared for the baby girl a little skirt, a little shift, and all the equipment of women, the little reed basket, the spinning whorl, the batten (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 6 -- Rhetoric and Moral Philosophy, No. 14, Part 7, eds. and transl. Arthur J. O. Anderson and Charles E. Dibble (Santa Fe and Salt Lake City: School of American Research and the University of Utah, 1961), 205.

Attestations from sources in Spanish: 

Ihuan ma yecuel ticmocuitlahui tiquelehui in cueitl, i huipilli; teahuilquixti, teizolo, tecatzauh, tetlahuelilocatili = Cuídate todavía de desear la falda, el huipil, porque infama, deshonra, ensucia, pervierte (centro de México, s. XVI)
Josefina García Quintana, "Exhortación de un padre a su hijo; texto recogido por Andrés de Olmos," Estudios de Cultura Náhuatl 11 (1974), 166–167.

cetetl cueytl posta onteca monamacaz yhua netlapacholoni etetl monamacaz nochi tlatzontli = una falda de posta amplia se venderá y una cobija que está toda cosida (Amecameca, 1625)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 164–165.

ce huipilli telpilli yhua cueytl otetl tzomitl dellal = un huepil trenzado [una falda] y unas nahuas de un lienzo de sayal (Amecameca, 1625)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 162–163.

uncatqui yetetl notzomihuipil yhuan centetl tlamach cueytl xoxoctic = dejo tres huipiles de lana y unas naguas labradas azules (Toluca, 1621)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 134–135.

centetl huipilli yhuan centetl queitl = un huipil y unas nahuas (Santiago Tlatelolco, 1600)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 42–43.

yhuan centetl nocue monamacaz = y unas [e]naguas, mando que se venda (San Pablo Tozanitlan, México, 1576)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 2, Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVI, eds., Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Ciencias Tecnología, 1999), 180–181.

Yzcatqui uipilli otetl sancta yquesia ytech pouiz yuan caja yuan cueytl yuan tomin matlactli omey yuan tlapachiuhcayotl. = Este es el guipile [son dos] para la iglesia, y caja y naguas, y dineros trece, y cubija. (Ocotelulco, sin fecha)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 1, Testamentos en castellano del siglo XVI y en náhuatl y castellano de Ocotelulco de los siglos XVI y XVII, eds. Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, y Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: CIESAS, 1999), 198-199.

chicontetl cueytl = siete naguas
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos indígenas novohispanos, vol. 2, Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVI, eds., Teresa Rojas Rabiela, Elsa Leticia Rea López, Constantino Medina Lima (Mexico: Consejo Nacional de Ciencias Tecnología, 1999), 208–209.

matlactli cueytl = part of the tribute payment owed by the people of Quauhtinchan in 1523 (Quauhtinchan, sixteenth century)
Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, eds. Paul Kirchhoff, Lina Odena Güemes, y Luis Reyes García (México: CISINAH, INAH-SEP, 1976), 230.

yetetl tlahmachcueytl yn ontetl cueytl ypatiuh chichicohome pesos yoan nanahuitix auh yn oc centetl yeye pesos ypatiuh // yoan yetetl huipiltin mamacuili pesos ypatiuh = Y tres faldas bordadas (de labor), dos faldas de valor de siete pesos y cuatro tomines // y una más, tres pesos es su valor // y tres huipiles de cinco pesos cada uno es su valor (Tlaxcala, 1[1566] 600)
Catálogo de documentos escritos en náhuatl, siglo XVII, Serie Administrativa (1600–1699), vol. II (Tlaxcala: Gobierno del Estado de Tlaxcala y el Archivo Histórico del Estado de Tlaxcala, 2013), 1.