The Spanish word “quince” contributes the number fifteen to the word “quinceañera.”
“Quinceañera” combines quince, meaning fifteen, with año, meaning year, and the feminine ending -era. In ordinary usage, it refers to the girl or young woman whose fifteenth birthday is being celebrated, as well as to the celebration itself.
The related masculine form quinceañero is used in some communities for a boy’s fifteenth-birthday celebration. The word is therefore more specific than a generic birthday term: it identifies both an age milestone and a cultural rite of passage.
Spelling matters in Spanish. The ñ in quinceañera is a separate letter from n, and the accent mark indicates the stressed syllable in the pronunciation. English-language writing often keeps the Spanish spelling, although “quince” is also widely used as a shorter name for the event.