mozo

See also: Appendix:Variations of "mozo"

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish mozo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈməʊzəʊ/, /ˈmoθo/

Noun

mozo (plural mozos)

1. A male servant, especially an attendant to a bullfighter.
   • 1931, Hart Crane, letter, 2 June:

     I found, by advice, that single mozos weren't apt to be much good.

   • 1992, Cormac McCarthy, All the Pretty Horses:

     When he rode up to the gerente’s house that morning he was accompanied by four friends and by a retinue of mozos and two packanimals saddled with hardwood kiacks, one empty, the other carrying their noon provisions.

2. A title of respect for a young man (usually unmarried) with or without a name used. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
3. An unmarried man, a boy. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

Anagrams

• Zoom, zoom

Asturian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoθo/ [ˈmo.θo]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oθo
• Syllabification: mo‧zo

Adjective

mozo

1. neuter of mozu

Galician

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese moço (13th century, Cantigas de Santa Maria) of unknown origin. Cognate with Portuguese moço, Asturian mozu, and Spanish mozo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoθo̝/, (western) /ˈmoso̝/

Noun

mozo m (plural mozos, feminine moza, feminine plural mozas)

1. boy; teenager; young man; single man

   Synonyms: homiño, rapaz

2. boyfriend

   Synonym: noivo

   Xa é unha mulleriña; mesmo botou mozo.

   She's already a young lady; she even has a boyfriend now.

3. (archaic) junior (person that is younger than other person)
   • 1485, M. Lucas Álvarez, P. Lucas Domínguez, editors, El monasterio de San Clodio do Ribeiro en la Edad Media: estudio y documentos, Sada: Edicións do Castro, page 709:

     Vasco d'Oseve o mozo, fillo de Vasco d'Oseve o vello

     Vasco de Oseve junior, son of Vasco de Oseve senior

Derived terms

• mociño

Adjective

mozo (feminine moza, masculine plural mozos, feminine plural mozas)

1. young; younger

   Alá foron os anos mozos!

   The young years are over!

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “moço”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “mozo”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “mozo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “mozo”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “mozo”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Potawatomi

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Algonquian *mo·swa (“moose”). Cognates include Ojibwe and Ottawa mooz, Plains Cree, Swampy Cree, Woods Cree, and Fox môswa, Unami mus and (from an Eastern Algonquian language) English moose. Doublet of mos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mo.so/ [mo.zo]

Noun

mozo anim (plural mozok or mozoyêk, locative mozok, obviative mozon or mozoyen)

1. moose

   Mozo ngi-wabma shi zibik.

   I saw a moose at the river.

Inflection

Declension of mozo

	singular	plural
—	mozo	mozok, mozoyêk
locative	mozok	mozogok
diminutive	mozos	mozosêk
obviative	mozon, mozoyen

References

• “mozo”, in Online Potawatomi Dictionary‎^[1], Citizen Potawatomi Nation, 2026
• “moz / mozo”, in Wiwkwébthëgen‎^[2], Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Government, 2026

Spanish

Alternative forms

• moço (obsolete)

Etymology

Uncertain, probably ultimately identical with muchacho (cf. mocho), or from Latin musteus (“must-like, of new wine, fresh”), from musteum, from mustum. Other theories include a pre-Roman origin. Compare Portuguese moço, Galician mozo, Asturian mozu. Cf. also Catalan mosso (taken from Spanish) and motxo. There may alternatively be a link to Italian mozzo (“cut off, docked”), French mousse (“blunt”), or Basque motz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoθo/ [ˈmo.θo] (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• IPA^(key): /ˈmoso/ [ˈmo.so] (Latin America, Philippines)

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oθo (Equatorial Guinea, Spain)
• Rhymes: -oso (Latin America, Philippines)
• Syllabification: mo‧zo

Noun

mozo m (plural mozos, feminine moza, feminine plural mozas)

1. boy, lad, young man, youth
2. servant, helper, steward, manservant

   Synonyms: sirviente, ayudante

3. (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru) waiter, server

   Synonym: camarero

4. cat, tomcat

   Synonym: gato

Derived terms

• aeromozo
• mozo de caballos
• mozo de cordel
• mozo de cuerda
• mozo de espadas
• mozo de espuela
• mozo de esquina
• mozo de estoques
• mozo de mulas
• mozo de oficio

Descendants

• → Catalan: mosso
• → Italian: mozzo

• → Ottoman Turkish: موچو (muço), میچو (mıço)
  • Turkish: miço, muço
  • → Albanian: muço
  • → Armenian: միչօ (mičʻō)
  • → Bulgarian: му́чо (múčo)

• → Yosondúa Mixtec: musu

Adjective

mozo (feminine moza, masculine plural mozos, feminine plural mozas)

1. young, youthful

   Synonyms: juvenil, joven

2. unmarried

   Synonym: soltero

Further reading

• “mozo”, 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