cuto

cuto

1. nominative singular masculine of cuta, which is past participle of cavati (“to die away from a world”)

Borrowed from Pipil kutu (“short, dismembered”) cf. Pipil mākutu (“one-armed, with an arm missing”), related to Classical Nahuatl cotoctic (“dismembered”), macotoctic (“dismembered of one arm”), quechcotoctic (“decapitated”).

The DRAE states it is borrowed from a Nahuatl cutuche (“cut”), but this is perhaps a spurious Nahuatl word, not found in Lyle Campbell's Pipil Nawat lexicon.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkuto/ [ˈku.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -uto
• Syllabification: cu‧to

cuto (feminine cuta, masculine plural cutos, feminine plural cutas)

1. (colloquial, El Salvador) missing an arm or forearm from birth, or from disease or an accident

   Synonym: amputado

   Mi segunda hija me nació cuta.

   My second daughter was born missing an arm.

   Quedó cuto después del accidente.

   He lost his arm after the accident.

2. (dated, colloquial, El Salvador) short (said of clothes, especially pants)

   Synonym: corto

   Esos pantalones te quedan cutos.

   Those pants are too short for you.

• “cuto”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014