Meaning & use
tortilla
Last updated
Meanings
nouncountable
A thin, round, flat bread made from corn or wheat flour, eaten especially in Mexico and Central America.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a tortilla' or 'two tortillas'.
Patterns
- a corn tortilla
- a flour tortilla
- make tortillas
She warmed the tortillas on a dry frying pan before filling them with beans and cheese.
In Mexico, corn tortillas are a basic food eaten with almost every meal.
We bought a packet of flour tortillas to make wraps for lunch.
nouncountableBritish
In Spanish cooking, a thick omelet made with eggs, potatoes, and sometimes onions.
Grammar: Countable: 'a Spanish tortilla' or 'two tortillas'.
Patterns
- a Spanish tortilla
- a potato tortilla
- serve the tortilla
The tapas bar serves a delicious Spanish tortilla with a green salad.
He made a large potato tortilla for the family picnic.
Word forms
| plural | tortillas |
|---|
Common combinations
- corn tortilla
- Corn tortillas are traditionally used for tacos.
- flour tortilla
- She prefers flour tortillas because they are softer.
- warm a tortilla
- Warm the tortilla for a few seconds on each side.
- Spanish tortilla
- The Spanish tortilla is thick and filled with potato slices.
Synonyms and how they differ
- wrap
- A wrap is a thin bread rolled around a filling, often made with flour; it is not the same as a traditional corn tortilla.
- flatbread
- Flatbread is a general term for any flat, unleavened bread; tortilla is a specific type from Mexico or Spain.
Word family
- tortilla chip noun
- A small, crisp piece of fried corn tortilla, often eaten with salsa or dip.
Commonly confused: tortilla or tortellini?
tortilla vs tortellini
Tortellini is a type of Italian stuffed pasta, not a flat bread. The similar sound can cause confusion.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'tortilla' correctly?
Choose one answer.
A tortilla is a flat bread used to wrap fillings, so 'wrapped the meat and vegetables in a warm tortilla' is correct. Option 0 is wrong because tortilla soup is a dish, not a noodle soup; option 1 suggests a slice of bread like toast, which is not typical; option 3 describes a pasta dish, not a tortilla.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “tortilla”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.