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Glite Dictionary
🧱 A base or plinth 🏛️ A public square 🇲🇽 Main city square
zócalo

zócalo

9.9
A central public square in a town where people meet
  • noun
  • /ˈzoʊkəloʊ/
translation icon : zócalo
  • Every Sunday, a market is set up in the zócalo, offering handmade crafts and fresh produce.

Examples

  • On benches at the edge of the zócalo sat cobblers, shoeshine boys, and cigarette peddlers.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • We go to the zócalo for coffee and to check out another bookstore.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • In the heart of the city, families gather in the zócalo to enjoy live music and local food stalls.

  • The zócalo was filled with tourists taking photos of the impressive buildings surrounding the plaza.

Synonyms

square
vszócalo
417 1.0

An open place in a town where streets meet

is the prominent central open area found in Mexican towns and cities
plaza
vszócalo
125 2.7

A large open public area in a town where people meet and hold events

is specifically the principal central open area in Mexican cities
piazza
vszócalo
19 7.4

An open public square in an Italian town where people gather

is the equivalent feature but named and used in Mexican city centres
public square
vszócalo
5 2.5

An open area in a town or city where people meet and events happen

is the main central open area specifically in Mexican towns
piazzetta
vszócalo
9.5

A small open square in an Italian town where people meet

is larger and functions as the main central open area in Mexican towns

How Central

zócalo
9.9
plaza
125 2.7

Surface Forms

zócalo singular
zócalos plural

Etymology

Zócalo also means a town's main public square in Mexico. One popular story says this use began when a large base or zócalo for a planned monument stayed in the plaza, so people started calling the whole place a zócalo, which is why the word now means a 'public square'.