buñuelo

[ boon-yoo-ey-loh; Spanish boo-nywe-law ]

noun

, plural bu·ñu·e·los [boon-yoo-, ey, -lohz, boo-, nywe, -laws].

1. Mexican Cooking. a thin, round, fried pastry, often dusted with cinnamon sugar.

Word History and Origins

Origin of buñuelo¹

First recorded in 1810–20; from Mexican Spanish, Spanish: “doughnut, fritter”; compare Catalan bunyol “bun,” bony “lump, bulge”; akin to the Romance base of bunion, beignet, bun ¹

Example Sentences

At six on the dot, she came back and announced, “Buñuelo time!”

From Literature

The buñuelo steams as Esneider breaks it with his hands to share between us, passing out napkins from his tote bag of supplies.

From The Guardian

The country has several signature treats that are similar to doughnuts, including the fritter-like buñuelo and it’s sister pastry, the sopapilla.

From Los Angeles Times

The pint-sized fourteen-year-old Alia Abad, from Chicago, smiled when she heard the word “buñuelo,” because she loves Spanish.

From The New Yorker

She then correctly spelled "quebrada,""collyrium," "buñuelo," and "brindisi" before missing "irbis" to finish in a tie for fifth.

From Chicago Tribune