What does "neato burrito" mean? [closed]

'Neato burrito' is a synonym of neato, which is an American slang word meaning excellent, desirable, wonderful, fantastic etc. 'Neato' dates back to the 1950s and was formed by appending the suffix -o to the word neat. The word burrito was added to neato for rhyming.

Reduplication is a process in which a word or part of it is repeated exactly or with slight modifications. Neato burrito reflects a special type of reduplication called Rhyming reduplication. A rhyming reduplication is one in which the duplicated element rhymes with the original element in the phrase which is indeed the case in neato burrito:

  • neato → /ˈniːtəʊ/
  • burrito → /bʊˈriːtəʊ/

A syllable consists of two main parts; onset and rhyme:

  • onset: it refers to the consonant(s) before the nucleus (usually a vowel)
  • rhyme: it consists of a nucleus (mostly a vowel) and an optional coda (consonants after the nucleus). It is the part of the syllable used in most poetic rhymes

Other examples of rhyming reduplication are nitty gritty, namby pamby, itsy bitsy, fuzzy wuzzy, mumbo jumbo, razzle dazzle, superduper etc. (More examples at: Merriam-Webster, Poetry4Kids, WriteAtHome Blog.)