'Pueblo' originates from Spanish, specifically the word 'pueblo', where the root comes from Latin 'populus' meaning 'people'.

'Pueblo' entered English from Spanish during the colonial and post-colonial periods of North America; Spanish 'pueblo' itself developed from Latin 'populus' through Vulgar Latin and Old Spanish forms.

Initially it referred broadly to 'people' or 'the people' (from Latin), and in Spanish it evolved to mean a 'people' and then more specifically a 'village' or 'town'; in English it further specialized to denote the Native American communal settlements and their inhabitants in the American Southwest.