An enchilada literally means "chilied" — a tortilla put into chili sauce. The dish is older than the Spanish language itself in the Americas.
A Mexican dish consisting of a tortilla rolled around a filling and covered with a chili pepper sauce. The dish predates European contact with the Americas.
From Mexican Spanish enchilada, the feminine past participle of enchilar ('to season with chili'), from en- ('in') + chile ('chili pepper') + -ada (past participle suffix). Literally 'chilied' — a tortilla that has been put in chili. Key roots: chīlli (Nahuatl: "chili pepper"), en- (Spanish (from Latin): "in, into (prefix)"), -ada (Spanish (from Latin): "past participle feminine suffix").
The enchilada is one of the oldest continuously eaten dishes in the Americas — Aztec accounts from the 16th century describe tortillas dipped in chili sauce. The word "chile" (chili pepper) comes from Nahuatl chīlli, making "enchilada" a perfect hybrid: a Spanish grammatical structure wrapped around a Nahuatl core, just as the tortilla is wrapped around its filling. The English idiom "the whole enchilada" (meaning everything, the entire thing