The Spanish word quinceañera names both the girl celebrating her fifteenth birthday and the traditional celebration.
The term comes from quince, meaning “fifteen,” with a feminine form referring to a fifteen-year-old girl. In everyday English, quinceañera is also widely used for the party or the entire set of ceremonies surrounding the birthday. The masculine form quinceañero can refer to a boy’s fifteenth-birthday celebration, although usage varies by community.
Quinceañera customs developed through a mixture of Indigenous, Spanish, Catholic, and modern social influences. Because the tradition exists across many countries and diasporas, vocabulary and practices are not identical everywhere. Families may use local names for attendants, sponsors, religious services, dances, or symbolic gifts.
The word is sometimes written without the accent mark in informal English, but quinceañera is the standard Spanish spelling. The accent over the second “a” indicates the stressed syllable and distinguishes the pronunciation from a simple English approximation.