caliche
Spanish, noun/kaˈlit͡ʃe/
caliche is spelled C-A-L-I-C-H-E (7 letters) and appears about once in every 5 million words in written Spanish, the 82,716th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Caliche is a Spanish masculine noun meaning “saltpeter” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Costra de arena y sales minerales, que aflora en el desierto de Atacama en el norte de Chile, de la que se…”.
What does caliche mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinesaltpeter
- 2
masculinesalitre
- 3
masculinejargon
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
noun: 1. Costra de arena y sales minerales, que aflora en el desierto de Atacama en el norte de Chile, de la que se extrae el salitre. 2. En la alfarería, pequeña piedra que queda por error incrustada en la vacija de greda. 3. Costra de cal que se levanta de una pared encalada o enlucida. 4. Maca, huella que deja un golpe sobre la corteza de una fruta como el melón.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of caliche
- caliches plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce caliche?
- /kaˈlit͡ʃe/
- [kaˈli.t͡ʃe]
- [kaˈlit͡ʃe]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to caliche
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is caliche in Spanish?
caliche appears about once in every 5 million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).