A burro is a donkey — the Spanish word, used in American English particularly in the Southwest. A burrito is literally a little donkey, and is a wrapped flour tortilla. The food is named after the animal by some route nobody has established.
The core difference
- burro — a donkey. The animal.
- burrito — the diminutive of burro, and the name of the dish.
The diminutive is the joke
Spanish forms diminutives with -ito and -ita, so burrito is straightforwardly little donkey. The same pattern gives casa and casita, perro and perrito, taco and taquito. Knowing the ending makes a large amount of Spanish food vocabulary transparent.
Why the food has that name
Nobody knows, and the confident explanations should be treated with caution. The suggestions include the rolled shape resembling a bedroll carried on a donkey, the packs a donkey carried, and a specific street vendor who used a donkey. All are plausible and none is documented. The dish itself is northern Mexican.
Burro in English
English borrowed burro in the nineteenth century, chiefly through the American Southwest, where it usually refers to the small working donkeys used in mining and packing. Feral burros descended from those animals still live in parts of the western United States and are legally protected there.
Donkey, ass, mule and hinny
The wider vocabulary is worth having straight:
- Donkey and ass — the same animal. Ass is the older word; donkey appears only in the eighteenth century, and its rise was probably helped by ass becoming awkward.
- Mule — a male donkey and a female horse. Almost always sterile.
- Hinny — the reverse cross, a male horse and a female donkey. Rarer and generally smaller.
A note on the other burro
Spanish burro also carries a figurative sense of stubbornness or stupidity, exactly as ass does in English. The two languages arrived at the same insult independently, from the same animal.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a burro and a burrito?
A burro is a donkey. A burrito is literally a little donkey — the diminutive form — and is the name of the wrapped tortilla dish.
Why is a burrito called a little donkey?
Nobody knows for certain. Suggested reasons include the rolled shape resembling a bedroll or a donkey's pack, but none is documented.
What is the difference between a mule and a hinny?
A mule has a donkey father and a horse mother; a hinny is the reverse. Hinnies are rarer and usually smaller.