taco

American  

[tah-koh, tah-kaw] / ˈtɑ koʊ, ˈtɑ kɔ /

noun

tacos plural

1. Mexican Cooking. a tortilla filled with various ingredients, as beans, rice, chopped meat, cheese, and tomatoes, and folded over in half or rolled into a loose cylinder shape: The downside of hard-shell tacos is that you can’t fit as much stuff in a fried tortilla.

   My favorite breakfast taco has eggs, bacon, and cheese on a flour tortilla.

   The downside of hard-shell tacos is that you can’t fit as much stuff in a fried tortilla.

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taco British  

/ ˈtɑːkəʊ /

noun

1. Mexican cookery a tortilla folded into a roll with a filling and usually fried

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• tacos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of taco

First recorded in 1930–35; from Mexican Spanish; perhaps a shortening of taco de minero “miner’s plug,” from the resemblance of the food to an explosive charge used in silver mines, from Spanish taco “wad, plug, wedge”; further origin uncertain

Compare meaning

How does taco compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• taco vs. burrito

Explanation

When you wrap a tortilla around a delicious filling, that's a taco. Traditional tacos are usually made with spicy, seasoned meat and garnishes like salsa and avocado — but these days, people put all kinds of things in tacos. Tacos were invented in Mexico before the Spanish arrived. In Mexican Spanish, taco means "light meal," but also "wedge" or "plug." Experts have made guesses about the indigenous roots of taco (like the Nahuatl word tlahco, "half" or "in the middle"), but this connection hasn't been proven. Today when you order a taco, it might come on a soft or crunchy fried tortilla, and be filled with meat, fish, vegetables, beans, cheese, or even tofu.

Example Sentences

“You’ll find the guy who’s saved up three months to be able to splurge for one day and the couple for whom money means nothing,” Castillo continued as my brisket taco arrived.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 4, 2026

The taco stand about 100 yards off had its normal self-sustaining line.

From Slate • Jun. 3, 2026

Like many of the packets in this story, taco seasoning works best when you stop thinking of it as a recipe and start thinking of it as an ingredient.

From Salon • Jun. 2, 2026

“He starts sweating when he eats spicy food,” Persaud said of their second date at a taco restaurant.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026

We rushed through taco pizza at the Pizza Pit, Ruth telling me to slow down, to chew like a lady, to stop popping my knuckles and gnawing on my straw.

From "The Miseducation of Cameron Post" by emily m. danforth