xelhuaztli. | Nahuatl Dictionary

⚠ Site currently under repair ⚠

Search Issues: Update 2026-08-06

Some of our more complex, multi-field searches (such as the search field on our homepage and Search All Fields) are currently under repair and may not work as expected.

Thank you to all our users who emailed to alert us to the problem! We hope to have it repaired soon.

Meanwhile, elements of the Advanced Search are working and the Alphabetical Listings are working, too.

xelhuaztli.

Headword:

xelhuaztli.

Principal English Translation:

a small brush for untangling hair (see Karttunen)

Orthographic Variants:

xelhuāztli

IPAspelling:

ʃelwɑːstɬi

Frances Karttunen:

XELHUĀZ-TLI pl: -TIN ~ -MEH small brush / cepillo, escobeta (para desenredarse el cabello) (T) Z has XIL for XEL, and X has XĀL, The vowel of instrumental -(HU)ĀZ-TLI is long, as Z and X have it, but T has it short in this item. See XELOĀ.
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 322.

themes:

Cleanliness, Orderliness (or lack of)

Technology, Tools