The word "chocolate" entered the English language from Spanish in about 1600.[7] How the word came into Spanish is less certain, and there are competing explanations. Perhaps the most cited explanation is that "chocolate" comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, from the word chocolātl, which many sources say derived from xocolātl Nahuatl pronunciation: [ʃokolaːtɬ], combining xococ, sour or bitter, and ātl, water or drink.[7] The word "chocolatl" does not occur in central Mexican colonial sources, making this an unlikely derivation.[8] Another derivation comes from the Yucatec Mayan word chokol meaning hot, and the Nahuatl atl meaning water.[9] The Nahuatl term, chicolatl, meaning "beaten drink", may derive from the word for the frothing stick, chicoli.[10] The term "chocolate chip" was first used in 1940.[11] The term "chocolatier", for a chocolate confection maker, is attested from 1888.[11]
