chanate

English

A male great-tailed grackle in Arizona, United States.

A male red-winged blackbird in British Columbia, Canada.

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Spanish chanate, from a Nahuan language; cf. Classical Nahuatl tzanatl (“great-tailed grackle”).

Noun

chanate (plural chanates)

1. a kind of bird
   • 1989 [1974–1795], Ignaz Pfefferkorn, translated by Theodore E. Treutlein, Sonora: A Description of the Province, translation of original in German, page 122:

     The farmer will hardly have sowed his wheat and maize fields when whole flocks of hungry chanates descend upon the land, scratch out the seeds, and eat them.

   • 2017, Tom Lea, The Wonderful Country:

     The black chanate birds were gathered, fluting their jangled morning songs under the pomegranates and figs as martin walked from the house.

   1. great-tailed grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
   2. red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
      • 2003, Rigoberto González, Crossing Vines: A Novel, page 67:

        “A chanate has come to pay us a visit,” doña Gertrudis said. [...] “It’s a black bird with red shoulders,”

2. (Chicano, prison slang, derogatory) black person
   • 2012, Santana Acuña, Saul Diskin, Santana and Saúl: A Dual Memoir, page 8:

     Pelaquillo's older brother was there. We called him Chanate, the name of a little black bird, because he was so dark.

3. (Chicano, prison slang) coffee
   • 2011 November 12, Chris Hoke, quoting Neaners, “Sacrament of Tears: Note from Solitary Confinement -- by Neaners”, in Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice‎^[1]:

     I’m sippin’ on some chanate [coffee] right now.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Portuguese chanate, from an indigenous language of Mozambique. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

chanate (uncountable)

1. a kind of tree (Colophospermum mopane)
   • 2010, Jonathan Timberlake, Emmanuel Chidumayo, Louis Sawadogo, “Distribution and Characteristics of African Dry Forests and Woodlands”, in Emmanuel N. Chidumayo, Davison J Gumbo, editors, The Dry Forests and Woodlands of Africa: Managing for Products and Services, pages 20–21:

     The dominant tree, often to the exclusion of many others, is Colophospermum mopane, commonly known as mopane or chanate.

   • 2015 March 20, Andrea Dijkstra, “Mozambique will be stripped of its forests 'in just a few years'”, in Mail & Guardian‎^[2]:

     The Chinese sell the rare exotic hardwood trees such as chanate, ebony, monzo (leadwood), panga panga, pau preto and wenge for a hundred times as much back in their home country

Synonyms

• mopane

Etymology 3

Noun

chanate (plural chanates)

1. Obsolete spelling of khanate
   • 1824 February, “An account of the Calmucs”, in The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany, volume 17, page 139:

     Gengis-Chan and Batuj spread terror over Europe. At a subsequent period this people separated into several Chanates.

   • 1836, “Instructions of General Paskewitch Erivanski to Colonel Lazarew; February 26 1828”, in The Portfolio: A Collection of State Papers and Other Documents and Correspondance, Historical, Diplomatic and Commercial, volume 4, numbers 27-33:

     You are aware that almost all the Armenians residing in the different chanates of Azerbijan, and all the Greeks in the neighbourhood of the town of Ormi, a short time after our troops had occupied Tabreez, proclaimed their willingness to emigrate; that they terefore, during my stay at Deichagan, sent thither deputies, in order to receive permission to this effect.

   • 1892, “Hunza, Nagyr, and the Pamir Regions”, in The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review and Oriental and Colonial Record, page 66:

     Slavery on the Pamir is flourishing: moreover, the principal contingents of slaves are obtained from Chatrar, Jasen, and Kanshoot, chanates under the protectorate of England.

Anagrams

• Ancheta

Portuguese

Etymology

From an indigenous language of Mozambique. This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

Noun

chanate m (uncountable)

1. (Mozambique) mopane (Colophospermum mopane)

   Synonym: mopane

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from a Nahuan language; cf. Classical Nahuatl tzanatl. Doublet of zanate.

Noun

chanate m (plural chanates)

1. (Mexico) great-tailed grackle (Quiscalus mexicanus)
2. (Mexico, US) red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus)
3. (US, prison slang, derogatory) black person
4. (US, prison slang) coffee

Derived terms

• ojo de chanate

 

References

• Cardozo-Freeman, Inez (1995) “The lingo of the pintos”, in Bilingual Review/La revista bilingüe, volume 20, number 1, pages 3–21