Yucatan

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large limestone peninsula in southeastern Mexico, bordered by the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, with a famous Maya heritage
2. A Mexican state occupying the northern part of a peninsula that juts into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea
3. The flat, jungle-covered peninsula in southeastern Mexico that is home to ancient Maya cities such as Chichen Itza

Etymology: The most famous explanation for the name of the Yucatán peninsula is a tale of mistaken communication. Those phrases are usually linked to the Chontal Maya "Yokot'an," which the Spanish then rendered as Yucatán. The story is memorable, but it rests on an interpretation that the Maya responses may not have been meant as names at all. A different account, given by the chronicler Bernal Díaz, offers a more practical origin. He linked the name to "yuca," the cassava plant, combined with "tale," a small hillock where the tuber was grown. In this reading, the name describes a landscape of cassava mounds rather than a conversation.