atole

American  

[uh-toh-ley, ah-toh-le] / əˈtoʊ leɪ, ɑˈtoʊˌlɛ /

noun

Mexican Cooking.

1. a hot drink usually made from ground cornmeal or masa, sweetened with unrefined cane sugar, and often flavored with spices.

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Etymology

Origin of atole

First recorded in 1710–20; from Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl ātolli, perhaps from ātl “water” ( cf. chocolate ( def. ))

Example Sentences

The two women handed out foam containers of chicken soup, pan dulce and cups of atole, a hot Mexican drink, near the Pajaro River bridge in Watsonville, across the water from Pajaro, Calif.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 15, 2023

And they all pass by the street vendors standing behind tables stacked high with sliced mangos, taquitos and atole de elote — a Central American corn-based drink popular in the winter.

From Washington Post • Feb. 7, 2023

In a small oblong park beside the elevated tracks, dozens of vendors sell freshly folded quesadillas, Oaxacan tlayudas, hunks of roasted pork, cups of warm atole, and tacos with a great multitude of fillings.

From New York Times • Feb. 8, 2022

But items like mole, pan de muertos, and atole transcend regional boundaries.

From Salon • Oct. 31, 2021

Usually her grandparents kept the store open on Thanksgiving and prepared tamales to sell alongside clay mugs of steaming atole.

From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez