See an image that represents macuahuitl in the Visual Lexicon of Aztec Hieroglyphs, ed. Stephanie Wood (Eugene, Ore.: Wired Humanities, 2020-present).
ma (from maitl, hand) plus quahuitl (stick, club) appear to be the roots of this word; a hand held club macquaitl (noun) = the native sword Daniel Garrison Brinton, Ancient Nahuatl Poetry: Containing the Nahuatl Text of XXVII Ancient Mexican Poems (1877), 157. Shortened to macana in Spanish. intepuzmaquauh, iuhquin atl monecuiloa = their iron swords were curved like a stream of water James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 96. ynic tlachiuhtli auaquavitl tlapatlachxintli vel tlacẽcavali necoc tlacamacuicuitl vncã tlatectli yn itztli anoço tecpatl ayocuitlaticã tlaçaloli = It is made in this manner: A piece of oak is cut into a board. It is well finished. Along both sides grooves are cut in which are set obsidian or flintstone [blades] glued with turtle dung. (central Mexico, sixteenth century) Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 261. conjaujliaia yn jnchimal, yn jnmacquauh in tonatiuh = they raised their shields and war clubs [as offerings] to the sun Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2 -- The Ceremonies, no. 14, Part III, 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), 51. nimā ic quinoalmacac coachimalli, yoan tepuzmacquavitl, yoā tepuztopilli = wooden clubs with imbedded obsidian blades; when the term was combined with iron [tepuz-], sword was meant James Lockhart, We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico, Repertorium Columbianum v. 1 (Los Angeles: UCLA Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 1993), 72.in ie iuhquj njman qujoaltoquilia, qujoaloncaiotia, oallaoncaiotia in quauhtli, çan no yuj in conjauhlia tonatiuh, yn ichimal, yn imacquauh = In the same manner there then followed him, coming second, the eagle[-costumed warrior], who similarly lifted up [as an offering] to the sun his shield and his war club. (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, 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), 49.njman conana, in tonacamecatl, yn iiolloco antica, yn iiolloco ilpitica, njman ic concujtlalpia in malli, yoan conmaca; maquaujtl, tlapotonilli, amo itztzo = Then he took the rope holding the captive, which reached and was attached to the center [of the stone]; then he tied it about the waist of the captive. And he gave him a war club, decked with feathers and not set with obsidian blades. (16th century, Mexico City)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 2—The Ceremonies, No. 14, Part III, 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), 51.