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.

teocuitlaxiquipiltontli.

Headword: 
teocuitlaxiquipiltontli.
Principal English Translation: 

a leather pouch or a little bag of money or cacao beans (see Molina)

Orthographic Variants: 
teocuitla xiquipiltontli
Alonso de Molina: 

teocuitla xiquipiltontli. esquero o bolsa de dinero.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 100v. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Attestations from sources in English: 

The term for a sack, xiquipilli, is a part of this phrase, in the diminuitive (-tontli). The larger version of the xiquipilli was a sack for cacao beans (early money) and for incense, according to a variety of sources. Teocuitlatl referred to gold, and early pesos were made of gold. Thus, this smaller coin purse may reflect European influence. (SW)