armadillo

Borrowed from Spanish armadillo, diminutive of armado (“armored”) in reference to its protective plates.

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɑɹməˈdɪloʊ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɑːməˈdɪləʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪləʊ
• Hyphenation: ar‧ma‧dil‧lo

armadillo (plural armadillos or armadilloes)

1. Any of the burrowing mammals covered with bony, jointed, protective plates, families Dasypodidae and Chlamyphoridae in the order Cingulata, found in the Americas, especially in South America.
   • 2013 July 26, Nick Miroff, “Mexico gets a taste for eating insects …”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 7, page 32:

     The San Juan market is Mexico City's most famous deli of exotic meats, where an adventurous shopper can hunt down hard-to-find critters …. But the priciest items in the market aren't the armadillo steaks or even the bluefin tuna.

• quirquincho (archaic)

• (order Cingulata): Andean hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus nationi), beautiful armadillo (†Dasypus bellus), big hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus villosus), Chacoan naked-tailed armadillo (Cabassous chacoensis), dwarf armadillo (Zaedyus pichiy), giant armadillo (Priodontes maximus), great long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus kappleri), greater fairy armadillo, greater naked-tailed armadillo, hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus spp.), hairy long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus pilosus), horned armadillo (†Peltephilus), Llanos long-nosed armadillo, long-nosed armadillo (Dasypus spp.), naked-tailed armadillo (Cabassous spp.), nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), northern horned armadillo, northern three-banded armadillo, pink fairy armadillo (Chlamyphorus truncatus), pygmy armadillo (Zaedyus pichiy), screaming hairy armadillo (Chaetophractus vellerosus), seven-banded armadillo (Dasypus septemcinctus), six-banded armadillo (Euphractus sexcinctus), southern long-nosed armadillo, southern naked-tailed armadillo (Dasypus hybridus), southern three-banded armadillo, Texas armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), three-banded armadillo (Tolypeutes matacus or Tolypeutes tricinctus), six-banded armadillo (Euphractus sexcinctus)
• mule armadillo

• armadillo ant
• armadillo bug (in order Oniscidea)
• armadillo egg

• armor

• scute
• Xenarthra

• armadillo on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Borrowed from Spanish armadillo.

• IPA^(key): (Central) [ər.məˈði.ʎu]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [ər.məˈði.ʎo]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [aɾ.maˈði.ʎo]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

armadillo m (plural armadillos)

1. armadillo

Borrowed from Spanish armadillo.

armadillo m (plural armadilli)

1. armadillo

Borrowed from English armadillo, from Spanish armadillo, diminutive of armado (“armored”), in reference to its protective plates.

• IPA^(key): /a(r)madilo/
• Rhymes: -ilo, -lo, -o

armadillo

1. armadillo

From armado (“armored”) +‎ -illo (diminutive suffix), literally “litte armored one”.

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Syllabification: ar‧ma‧di‧llo

armadillo m (plural armadillos)

1. armadillo

   Synonyms: (Mexican Indian) ayotoste, cachicamo

• “armadillo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025