pernil

noun

per·​nil per-ˈnēl 

plural pernils

: a Latin American dish consisting of a pork shoulder or leg that has been seasoned with a marinade (as of garlic, oregano, salt and pepper, and adobo or sofrito) and slow-roasted until tender inside with a crispy outer skin

Pernil is about as traditional as you can get in Puerto Rico. It's a pork shoulder marinated overnight in adobo, then slow roasted …

—Von Diaz

She'd start the day by cooking her pernil, a large pork shoulder that was slow-roasted until the skin became thin and crispy …

—Illyana Maisonet

… pernil, or Cuban-style slow-roasted pork, that's utterly unctuous with fat and garlic.

—Paul Stephen

Examples of pernil in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

While Sacramento is home to several Caribbean eateries, most focus on a single island’s cuisine — Jamaican jerk, Puerto Rican pernil or Trinidadian doubles, rather than a cross-regional approach. —Sean Timberlake, Sacbee.com, 25 Nov. 2025

The restaurant offers over two dozen sweet and savory empanadas, including achiote potato, Boricua with pernil and arroz con gandules, Cubano, guava and cheese and plantain and cheese. —Endia Fontanez, AZCentral.com, 4 June 2024

In addition to the always-pleasing pastas of Mill Street restaurant, newcomer Café con Leche offers juicy mounds of Puerto Rican pernil. —Gary Shteyngart, Condé Nast Traveler, 30 Aug. 2023

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Spanish,"thigh and buttock of an animal, especially a hog," "(in parts of Latin America) shoulder of a hog," from pierna "leg" (going back to Latin perna "leg, upper leg, thigh and buttock of a hog") + -il, suffix of appurtenance, going back to Latin -īlis — more at pearl entry 1

First Known Use

1967, in the meaning defined above