tentzontli. | Nahuatl Dictionary

Headword:

tentzontli.

Principal English Translation:

literally, lip hair, but this term typically refers to the beard, chin hair or whiskers (see Molina and Karttunen); also, sheep or goat(s) (see attestations); and, a noble male (see Sahagún)

IPAspelling:

teːntsontɬi

Alonso de Molina:

tentzontli. barua. s. los pelos.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 100r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen:

TĒNTZON-TLI beard / barba (M) See TĒN-TLI, TZON-TLI.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 226.

Attestations from sources in English:

auh in itentzon cenca viac, cenca vitlatztic, tentzonpachtic = And his beard was very long—exceedingly long. He was heavily bearded (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 3 -- The Origin of the Gods, Part IV, 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, 1978), 13.

Tentzontli, tetentzon: in tetētzon mozcalia, tlanonotzalli, tlazcaltilli tlamachtilli = [Another] of Noble Lineage: The one of noble lineage [is] discreet, well reared, well taught, well instructed. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 10 -- The People, No. 14, Part 11, 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), 20.

tentzontli, tetentzon = "one's beard" (noble)
Available at Digital Florentine Codex/Códice Florentino Digital, edited by Kim N. Richter and Alicia Maria Houtrouw, "Book 10: The People", fol. 12r, Getty Research Institute, 2023. https://florentinecodex.getty.edu/en/book/10/folio/12r/images/0 Accessed 4 September 2025.

When ixquamolli is combined with tentzontli (lip hair), it refers to someone close to the speaker. (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Personal communication, James Lockhart, in sessions analyzing Huehuetlatolli.

tentzontli = beard (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, Florentine Codex: General History of the Things of New Spain; Book 10 -- The People, No. 14, Part 11, 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), 111.

totẽtzõ muzcalttia veyaquia = Our beard: It grows, it becomes long (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 256.

tetentzon mochachamoaoa = Beard of noblemen: He is conceited (central Mexico, sixteenth century)
Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, Primeros Memoriales, ed. Thelma D. Sullivan, et al. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1997), 259.

Attestations from sources in Spanish:

oniquinnopieliaya tentzoneque ca oniquinnamacac auh nechhuyquilitoc ce caxtiltecatl = las cabras que tenía las vendí y de ellas me debe diez y ocho pesos un español (Zempoala, "1610", but probably Techialoyan -related)
Vidas y bienes olvidados: Testamentos en náhuatl y castellano del siglo XVII, vol. 3, Teresa Rojas Rabiela, et al, eds. (México: CIESAS, 2002), 80–81.

IDIEZ morfema:

tēntzontli.

IDIEZ traduc. inglés:

s.o. or s.t.’s beard.

IDIEZ def. náhuatl:

no. Ce achi iihhuiyo macehualli, tlahpiyalli zo tecuani tlen ixhua yahualtic icamatenno. “Martin axquiamati itentzon pampa axcencah mozcaltiah huan yeca motenxima. ”

IDIEZ def. español:

# no. Un poco de los vellos de una persona que nace alrededor de su boca. “Martín no le gusta sus bigotes porque no crecen igual por eso mejor se rasura”.

IDIEZ morfología:

tēntli, tzontli.

IDIEZ gramática:

tlat.

themes:

Agriculture, Gardens, Stockraising