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

See Examples For:

taco tacos

Then at Mariscos, I’ll get their shrimp tacos, which is not a soft taco.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

For example, it might direct a shopper planning a taco night to all the ingredients, from tortillas to cheese to vegetables, which they might otherwise leave behind.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

When former taco stand El Ruso opened its flagship in Studio City last month, burritos wrapped in 18-inch Sonoran flour tortillas and stuffed with rib-eye or chile Colorado were priced at $20 each.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 9, 2026

Serve it with warm corn tortillas, diced onion, cilantro and a flavorful salsa, and you have the makings of an outdoor taco night that largely takes care of itself.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

He nodded and took another big-ass bite of his taco.

From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña

It’s only the beginning of a new movement in the massive AI infrastructure buildout, but it seems like tech companies will soon need more than tacos to change the public’s tune.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026

Church fairs were as likely to serve pancit and spring rolls as hamburgers and tacos.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026

Order a blue spirulina-coconut whip or try some street-food mashups, like Nashville Hot tacos and naan nachos.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026

The plan includes $1 Mexican Pizzas and limited-time offers like butter chicken tacos.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026

She was in Mr. Bolton’s class with me, enjoying math and English and batik and eating tacos along with everyone else.

From "Ugly" by Robert Hoge