aztec
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Noun:
- A member of the Nahuatl people who established a major empire in central Mexico: An Aztec was a person belonging to a specific group of Nahuatl-speaking peoples who founded and lived in the Aztec Empire, centered in the Valley of Mexico, until the Spanish conquest in the early 16th century.
Examples of Usage
- Noun:
- The Aztec built their capital city, Tenochtitlan, on an island in Lake Texcoco.
- Cortés and his Spanish conquistadors formed alliances with some indigenous groups who were enemies of the Aztec.
Advanced Usage
- "Aztec" as an attributive noun (used to describe other nouns): Often used to describe artifacts, culture, or practices originating from this civilization.
- The museum has an impressive collection of Aztec codices.
- Aztec mythology features a complex pantheon of gods, such as Huitzilopochtli and Quetzalcoatl.
Variants and Related Words
- Aztecan (adj): Pertaining to the Aztecs or their languages.
- The Aztecan languages are a subgroup of the Uto-Aztecan family.
- Nahuatl (noun): The language spoken by the Aztecs and other peoples in central Mexico; still spoken today.
- Many words in English, like "chocolate" and "tomato," come from Nahuatl.
Synonyms
- Mexica: This term specifically refers to the Nahuatl-speaking people who founded the empire based in Tenochtitlan, often used interchangeably with "Aztec" in historical contexts.
- Tenochca: Refers specifically to the inhabitants of the city of Tenochtitlan.
Related Phrases and Concepts
- Aztec Empire: The political entity ruled by the Aztec Triple Alliance (Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan).
- The Aztec Empire was at its height in the early 1500s.
- Aztec Sun Stone: A famous carved stone disk, often incorrectly called the "Aztec Calendar Stone."
- The Aztec Sun Stone is a symbol of Mexica cosmology.
Noun
- a member of the Nahuatl people who established an empire in Mexico that was overthrown by Cortes in 1519