ladino

Noun

ladino (countable and uncountable, plural ladinos)

1. Trifolium repens (white clover).
2. (dated, Central America) A mixed-race descendant of whites and Native Americans; a mestizo.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Am. Cyc to this entry?)

3. (US, Southeastern US) A cunningly vicious horse.

Anagrams

• loadin'

Noun

ladino

1. Ladino (Ibero-Romance language also known as Judaeo-Spanish)
2. Synonym of ladin (a Rhaeto-Romance language)

Noun

ladino m (uncountable)

1. Ladino (language)

Proper noun

ladino m

1. the Ladin language, a Rhaetian tongue of Northeastern Italy.

   Synonym: lingua ladina

Noun

ladino m (plural ladini, feminine ladina)

1. a native or inhabitant of this region, or speaker of this language

Adjective

ladino (feminine singular ladina, masculine plural ladini, feminine plural ladine)

1. of or pertaining to the language or people

Anagrams

• aldino, nodali

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin latīnus. Doublet of latino and latim, which were later borrowings. Compare Spanish ladino.

Adjective

ladino m (feminine singular ladina, masculine plural ladinos, feminine plural ladinas, comparable)

1. wily; sly; cunning

   Synonyms: finório, matreiro

Etymology 2

Taken from the proper names of the languages.

Proper noun

ladino m

1. Ladin (Romance language spoken in northeastern Italy)
2. Ladino (Romance language spoken by Sephardi Jews)

Etymology 1

Inherited from Latin latīnus; compare latín, latino, doublets which were borrowed later. Compare also Portuguese ladino (“learned, cultured”). The sense of "astute" or "crafty" developed from medieval times, when the word was used to describe scholars and learned people, who were familiar with Latin and were involved in a process of "Latinization", i.e. using and incorporating learned terms. It was also used as a general designation for Romance speakers in the Middle Ages, as opposed to others speaking different kinds of languages, especially Arabic in the context of Spain/Iberia (compare the name of Ladino, the Sephardic Jewish language of Spain, descended from a form of Old Spanish, as well as the Ladin of northern Italy). The sense of "mestizo" developed in colonial Central America when the term was originally applied to those indigenous people who came to speak only Spanish.^[1]

Etymology 2

Taken from the proper names of the languages.

Reference