Search Issues: Update 2026-09-16 - Repairs to some of our search pages are ongoing. Thank you for your continued patience!
Meanwhile, elements of the Advanced Search are working and the Alphabetical Listings are working, too.
cuexyo.
Headword:
cuexyo.
Principal English Translation:
a design found on some war shields; see an article about it, with illustrations, in Arqueología Mexicana, https://arqueologiamexicana.mx/mexico-antiguo/el-cuexyo-chimalli-del-cas..., and see examples from the Codex Mendoza and other manuscripts in our online Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs
Orthographic Variants:
cuexyotl (?)
Attestations from sources in English:
See an image that represents cuexyo in the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities, 2020-present).
The shield is a chimalli, and the design of this one is called cuexyo by Berdan and Anawalt (The Codex Mendoza, 1992, vol. 1, Appendix G). It is made from a painted animal skin and decorated with feathers. One wonders if it has an association with the cuextecatl, a dancer.
Attestations from sources in Spanish:
"En la primera carta de Relación, Hernán Cortés menciona el envío de: 'Una rodela grande de plumas y de un cuero de un animal pintado [con manchas], y en el campo rodean en el medio una chapa de oro, con cuatro otras chapas'." [ver el artículo citado arriba]
See also: