: a watercourse (such as a creek) in an arid region
2
: a water-carved gully or channel
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the WebWatching fire run through sequoias is like watching water return to a desert arroyo that hasn’t been wet in a hundred years. Kyle Dickman, Outside Online, 13 July 2022 Predictably, a big crowd favorite was Orville Peck, whose boomy, lonesome vocals are deeper than any arroyo (Seco or otherwise). Chris Willman, Variety, 10 July 2022 Across the arroyo, in Mt. Washington, a ravine park is named for 1920s subdivider Carlin G. Smith.Los Angeles Times, 3 May 2022 Boris, 29, ran across the muddy arroyo of the Rio Grande on Dec. 3 from Ciudad Juárez to El Paso.Washington Post, 17 Dec. 2021 Far closer, a gang of 30 to 40 dark javelina barreled up a nearby arroyo.San Antonio Express-News, 18 Oct. 2019 Just below La Cachucha at the edge of a deep arroyo was a hairpin turn to the left.San Antonio Express-News, 18 Oct. 2019 Native rainbow trout and arroyo chubs were once abundant across Southern California.Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2019 Perks include a fireplace, heated patios, hot tub built into the rocks, and a fire pit overlooking the arroyo. Megan Barber, Curbed, 14 June 2019 See More
Word History
Etymology
borrowed from Spanish, probably of pre-Latin substratal origin
Note: The word arroyo is traditionally compared with Latin arrugia, a word used by Pliny (Historia naturalis 33.70) for galleries excavated into mountainsides in the Iberian peninsula to extract gold. Presumably the word was extended from the sense "artificial passageway" to "natural passageway" (or vice versa, if "natural passageway" was the original sense). In medieval documents of Asturias, from 775 on, arogium and variants occur as latinized forms of the vernacular word.