Flauta

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ˈflaʊtə/

Definitions

1. A rolled and filled pastry commonly found in Mexican cooking, a type of woodwind instrument mimicking the flute in sound production, and a descriptor for someone with a slender or fragile physique are all represented by this term
2. A type of pastry filled with various ingredients popular in Mexican cuisine, a musical instrument similar to a flute that produces sound by blowing air across an opening, and a term used to describe a delicate or thin body form are encapsulated in this term
3. This word refers to a savory Mexican rolled pastry that is filled, a woodwind instrument producing flute-like tones, and an adjective describing a slender or fragile build

Etymology: The Spanish word "flauta" means "flute," and the Mexican pastry takes its name from the instrument because a rolled, tightly wrapped tortilla looks like a flute. The pastry itself is a Mexican Spanish creation, and English borrowed the name from that regional usage rather than from the standard Spanish sense of the instrument. The English word is therefore a loanword from Mexican Spanish, and it sits in an unusual family relationship with two English words for the instrument. Those are "flute" and "fluyt," and linguists call such pairs doublets: words that come from the same ancestor but reached English by different routes. Here the shared ancestor is the Latin "flauta," a pipe or flute, which is why a Mexican taco-like snack and an orchestral woodwind turn out to be distant relatives.