bacalao

[ bah-kuh-lou, bak-uh-; Spanish bah-kah-lah-aw ]

noun

, Spanish or Spanish-American Cooking.

, plural ba·ca·laos [bah-k, uh, -, louz, bak-, uh, -, bah-kah-, lah, -aws].

1. codfish, especially when dried and salted.
2. a dish of this, cooked with a tomato sauce, olives, garlic, etc.

Word History and Origins

Origin of bacalao¹

First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish bacal(l)ao, probably from Basque bakaiļao, perhaps, by metathesis, from Gascon, the presumed source of Old French cabellau, cabillau ( French cabillaud ) “fresh codfish,” equivalent to Gascon cabilh, cabelh (diminutive of cap “head”) + a suffix, alluding to the fish's prominent head; though Medieval Latin (Flanders) cabellauwus, the earliest attestation of the form (compare Middle Dutch cab(b)eliau, Dutch kabeljauw ) suggests a non-Romance, northern European origin; chief

Example Sentences

Unfortunately it is not called Bacalao till after it is dried, but Piscado.

From Project Gutenberg