Etymograph

English

vaquero

Vaquero comes from Spanish vaquero ‘cowherd’, from Medieval Latin vaccārius, and ultimately from Latin vacca ‘cow’.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvacca1‘cow’
  2. Early Medieval Latinmodernvaccārius2
  3. Spanishc. 1500–presentvaquero2‘cowherd’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1925vaquero2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Spanish vaca
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English vaquero
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1925, Quarterly of the Society of California P: “A day or two before a number of vaqueroes…”.

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEvaccaWiktionary, Spanish vaca‘cow’
  2. Early Medieval LatinmodernvaccāriusWiktionary, English vaquero
  3. Spanishc. 1500–presentvaqueroWiktionary, English vaquero‘cowherd’
  4. Englishearliest quotation 1925vaqueroWiktionary, English vaquero. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1925, Quarterly of the Society of California P: “A day or two before a number of vaqueroes…”

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with vaquero, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Latin vacca ‘cow’

through Spanish vaquero ‘cowherd’

8 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

noun A cowboy; a herdsman.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “vaquero”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Spanish vaca. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Latin vacca / vaquero