Etymology

Cross of cadarzo (“floss”) and madeja (“skein, ball of yarn”). The first word is from Ancient GreekCategory:Spanish terms derived from Ancient Greek#CADEJO ἀκάθαρτος (akáthartos, “unclean”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈdexo/ [kaˈð̞e.xo]Category:Spanish 3-syllable words#CADEJOCategory:Spanish terms with IPA pronunciation#CADEJO
• Rhymes: -exoCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/exo#CADEJOCategory:Rhymes:Spanish/exo/3 syllables#CADEJO
• Syllabification: ca‧de‧jo

Noun

cadejo m (plural cadejos)Category:Spanish lemmas#CADEJOCategory:Spanish nouns#CADEJOCategory:Spanish countable nouns#CADEJOCategory:Spanish entries with incorrect language header#CADEJOCategory:Spanish masculine nouns#CADEJOCategory:Pages with entries#CADEJOCategory:Pages with 1 entry#CADEJO

1. tangle (of hair)
2. a supernatural spirit, dog-shaped creature with red eyes, that would increase size when assaulted, wanders the isolated roads at night

Further reading

• “cadejo”, 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
• Roberts, Edward A. (2014), A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN