peregrina

Peregrina is the feminine form of the Spanish noun and adjective peregrino. In ordinary usage, peregrina refers to a female pilgrim or wanderer. It can also describe something related to pilgrimage, travel, or foreign origin when used as an adjective. The term comes from Latin peregrinus, meaning a traveler abroad or foreign.

In language, peregrina appears in religious and travel-related contexts to denote a woman undertaking a pilgrimage or someone who travels far from home. As an adjective, it can convey ideas of distance, unfamiliarity, or foreign origin, depending on the sentence.

The term also appears in cultural and symbolic contexts. The best-known proper noun is La Peregrina, a historic pearl necklace whose name means "the wanderer" or "the pilgrim." Its storied history spans European royalty and collectors, and it later gained fame in popular culture through associations with notable 20th-century figures, including Elizabeth Taylor, helping to cement its reputation as a symbol of luxury and antiquity.

Beyond these uses, peregrina can function as a given name or a poetic epithet in Spanish-language literature and music, where it evokes themes of travel, journey, and wandering identity. The word is distinct from the English peregrine, which has a different etymology and usage.