cerro

American  

[ser-oh] / ˈsɛr oʊ /

noun

cerros plural

1. Southwestern U.S. a hill or peak.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cerros
  plural

Etymology

Origin of cerro

An Americanism first recorded in 1825–35 from Spanish: literally, “hill, backbone, neck of an animal,” from Latin cirrus “curl, tuft” (with shift: from “curly hair,” to “hair on an animal's neck,” to “neck or spine,” to “hill”)

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cerro cerros

The dwelling at the bottom of the cerro was an old shack beyond repair.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

We were barely over the cerro when we saw them to the right of us, in a clearing, on yet another hill: hundreds of snout-nosed butterflies hovering over dozens of rosebushes.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

Pita lifted her head long enough to look down the cerro.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

We walked so far and for so long, we almost dropped Pita a couple of times before we reached the crest of the cerro.

From "Summer of the Mariposas" by Guadalupe García McCall

At last the cerro was reached, and here the last disappointment awaited him.

From Maximilian in Mexico A Woman's Reminiscences of the French Intervention 1862-1867 by Stevenson, Sara Yorke

Guaidó often says that his message is gaining support in the cerros, but most people I spoke to there seemed too accustomed to crisis to believe in the possibility of transformative change.

From The New Yorker ● Jun. 3, 2019

He trotted her west, across the grassy flat toward the cerros, gently rounded hills of dark lava rock which were covered with a thin crust of topsoil and grass, edged with thickets of scrub oak.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko

He rode miles across dry lake flats and over rocky cerros until he came to a high fence of heavy-gauge steel mesh with three strands of barbed wire across the top.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko

In late fall, as the deer moved down with each snowstorm, the people hunted the foothills and cerros and the grassy dry lake flats of the big plateau.

From "Ceremony:" by Leslie Marmon Silko

At Izamal, which was traditionally the sacred city of the Mayas, a human face in stucco is still attached to the perpendicular side of one of the smaller cerros or mounds.

From The Mayas, the Sources of Their History Dr. Le Plongeon in Yucatan, His Account of Discoveries by Salisbury, Stephen