English

Alternative forms

• ollapodrida

Noun

olla podrida ‎(plural olla podridas)

1. A Spanish stew made from a mixture of highly seasoned meat and vegetables.
2. A miscellaneous assortment or collection; a hodgepodge.
   • 2003 August 22, Rotan E. Lee, “Black gay men suffer double racism”, in Philadelphia Tribune:

     Continuously testing the resilience of the melting pot differentiates America from other places; and the olla podrida of colors and cultures creates a reservoir of talents unduplicated on the planet.

Synonyms

• olio

Translations

References

• “olla podrida” (US) / “olla podrida” (UK) in Oxford Dictionaries, Oxford University Press.

Spanish

Etymology

From Old Spanish olla potrida ‎(“rotten pot”, maybe due to the smell), or olla poderida ‎(“pot [of the] mighty”, because it was eaten by the rich), ultimately from Latin olla ‎(“pot, jar”) and putritus ‎(“decayed, rotten”) or a derivative of adjective potis ‎(“able, capable”). Compare pudrir ‎(“to rot, to decay”) and poder ‎(“to be able”).

Pronunciation

• (Castilian) IPA^(key): /ˌoʎapoˈdɾida/, [ˌoʎapoˈðɾiða]
• (Latin America) IPA^(key): /ˌoɟ͡ʝapoˈdɾida/, [ˌoʝapoˈðɾiða]

Noun

olla podrida f ‎(plural ollas podridas)

1. olla podrida (stew of seasoned meat and vegetables)
   • 1605–1615, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, “XLVII”, in El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha [The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha] (in Spanish), University of Barcelona, published 2006, page 416:

     Aquel platonazo que está más adelante vahando, me parece que es olla podrida, que por la diversidad de cosas que en las tales ollas podridas hay, no podré dejar de topar con alguna que me sea de gusto y provecho.

     That big dish that is smoking farther off, seems to me to be an olla podrida, and out of the diversity of things in such olla podridas, I can’t fail to light upon something tasty and good for me.