A small, roughly built or poorly maintained house or cabin, often simple and cramped.
Possibly from Nahuatl (Aztec language) 'xacalli,' meaning 'wooden hut' or 'thatched house,' which entered English through Mexican Spanish. Some scholars debate other possible Germanic origins.
The word 'shack' might actually come from the Aztec language through Mexican Spanish—it's one of many surprising words English borrowed from indigenous American languages that we rarely think about, like 'chocolate' and 'tomato.'
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