chachalaca

Late 19th century. From South American Spanish chachalaca, from Classical Nahuatl chachalacani (“tattler, gossiper”), from chāchalāni (“to make a hubbub, create an uproar”).

chachalaca (plural chachalacas)

1. Any of several cracid birds, of the genus Ortalis, limited to the Americas, that resemble the guans.

• buff-browed chachalaca, Ortalis superciliaris
• Chaco chachalaca, Ortalis canicollis
• chestnut-winged chachalaca, Ortalis garrula
• Colombian chachalaca, Ortalis columbiana (subspecies of speckled chachalaca)
• grey-headed chachalaca, Ortalis cinereiceps
• little chachalaca, Ortalis motmot
• plain chachalaca, Ortalis vetula
• rufous-bellied chachalaca, Ortalis wagleri
• rufous-headed chachalaca, Ortalis erythroptera
• rufous-vented chachalaca, Ortalis ruficauda
• speckled chachalaca, chestnut-headed chachalaca, East Brazilian chachalaca, scaled chachalaca, Ortalis guttata
• West Mexican chachalaca, Ortalis poliocephala
• white-bellied chachalaca, Ortalis leucogastra

Borrowed from Classical Nahuatl chachalacani (“tattler, gossiper”), from chāchalāni (“to make a hubbub, create an uproar”).

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃat͡ʃaˈlaka/ [t͡ʃa.t͡ʃaˈla.ka]
• Rhymes: -aka
• Syllabification: cha‧cha‧la‧ca

chachalaca f (plural chachalacas)

1. chachalaca (a type of bird)
2. (colloquial, Mexico, Central America) babbler, yapper
3. (colloquial, Guatemala) chatter
4. (colloquial, El Salvador) chatty (said of a person)

• “chachalaca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014