An Eagle warrior (left) depicted holding a macuahuitl in the Florentine Codex
Eagle warriors or eagle knights (Classical Nahuatl: cuāuhtli [ˈkʷaːwtɬi] (singular)^[​1] or cuāuhmeh [ˈkʷaːwmeʔ] (plural)^[​1]) were a special class of infantry soldier in the Aztec army, one of the two leading military special forces orders in Aztec society. They were a type of Aztec warrior called a cuāuhocēlōtl [kʷaːwoˈseːloːt͡ɬ].^[​2] The word cuāuhocēlōtlderives from the eagle warrior cuāuhtli and the jaguar warrior ocēlōtl [oˈseːloːt͡ɬ].^[​2] These military orders were made up of the bravest soldiers of noble birth and those who had taken the greatest number of prisoners in battle. Of all of the Aztec warriors, they were the most feared. Eagle warriors, along with the jaguar warriors, were the only such classes which did not restrict access solely to the nobility, as commoners or, in Nahuatl, "mācēhualli" [maːseːwalːi] ()were occasionally admitted for special merit. The eagles were soldiers of the Sun, for the eagle was the symbol of the Sun. Eagle warriors dressed like eagles, adorning themselves with eagle feathers, and wearing headgear with an eagle head on it.^[​3]