Marina ([maˈɾina]) or Malintzin ([maˈlintsin]; c. 1500 – c. 1529), more popularly known as La Malinche ([la maˈlintʃe]), was a Nahua woman from the Mexican Gulf Coast, who became known for contributing to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire (1519–1521), by acting as an interpreter, advisor, and intermediary for the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés. She was one of 20 enslaved women given to the Spaniards in 1519 by the natives of Tabasco. Cortés chose her as a consort, and she later gave birth to their first son, Martín – one of the first Mestizos (people of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry) in New Spain.

La Malinche's reputation has shifted over the centuries, as various peoples evaluate her role against their own societies' changing social and political perspectives. Especially after the Mexican War of Independence, which led to Mexico's independence from Spain in 1821, dramas, novels, and paintings portrayed her as an evil or scheming temptress. In Mexico today, La Malinche remains a powerful icon – understood in various and often conflicting aspects as the embodiment of treachery, the quintessential victim, or the symbolic mother of the new Mexican people. The term malinchista refers to a disloyal compatriot, especially in Mexico.

Malinche is known by many names, though her birth name is unknown. Malinche was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church and given the Christian name "Marina", often preceded by the honorific doña. The Nahua called her Malintzin, derived from Malina, a Nahuatl rendering of her Spanish name, and the honorific suffix -tzin. According to historian Camilla Townsend, the vocative suffix -e is sometimes added at the end of the name, giving the form Malintzine, which would be shortened to Malintze, and heard by the Spaniards as Malinche. Another possibility is that the Spaniards simply did not hear the “whispered” -n of the name Malintzin.

The title Tenepal was often assumed to be part of her name. In the annotation made by Nahua historian Chimalpahin on his copy of Gómara's biography of Cortés, Malintzin Tenepal is used repeatedly about Malinche. According to linguist and historian Frances Karttunen, Tenepal is probably derived from the Nahuatl root tene, which means "lip-possessor, one who speaks vigorously", or "one who has a facility with words", and postposition -pal, which means "through". Historian James Lockhart, however, suggests that Tenepal might be derived from tenenepil, "somebody’s tongue". In any case, Malintzin Tenepal appears to have been a literal translation of Spanish doña Marina la lengua, with la lengua, "the interpreter", literally meaning "the tongue", being her Spanish sobriquet.

Since at least the 19th century, she was believed to have originally been named Malinalli, (Nahuatl for "grass"), after the day sign on which she was supposedly born. If so, Marina would have been chosen as her baptismal name because of its phonetic similarity. Modern historians have rejected such mythic suggestions, noting that the Nahua associate the day sign Malinalli with bad or "evil" connotations, and they are known to avoid using such day signs as personal names. Moreover, there would be little reason for the Spaniards to ask the natives what their names were before they were christened with new names after Catholic saints.

Malinche's birthdate is unknown, but it is estimated to be around 1500, and likely no later than 1505. She was born in an altepetl that was either a part of or a tributary of a Mesoamerican state whose center was located on the bank of the Coatzacoalcos River to the east of the Aztec Empire. Records disagree about the exact name of the altepetl where she was born. In three unrelated legal proceedings that occurred not long after her death, various witnesses who claimed to have known her personally, including her daughter, said that she was born in Olutla. The probanza of her grandson also mentioned Olutla as her birthplace. Her daughter added that the altepetl of Olutla was related to Tetiquipaque, although the nature of this relationship is unclear. In the Florentine Codex, Malinche's homeland is mentioned as "Teticpac", which is most likely the singular form of Tetiquipaque. Gómara writes that she came from "Uiluta" (presumably a variant of Olutla). He departs from other sources by writing that it was in the region of Jalisco. Díaz, on the other hand, gives "Painalla" as her birthplace.

Her family is reported to have been of noble background; Gómara writes that her father was related to a local ruler, while Díaz recounts that her parents were rulers. Townsend notes that while Olutla at the time probably had a Popoluca-speaking majority, the ruling elite, which Malinche supposedly belonged to, would have been Nahuatl-speaking. Another hint that supports her noble origin is her apparent ability to understand the courtly language of tecpillahtolli ("lordly speech"), a Nahuatl register that is significantly different from the commoner's speech and has to be learned. The fact that she was often referred to as a doña, at the time a term in Spain not commonly used when referring to someone outside of the aristocracy, indicates that she was viewed as a noblewoman. But she may have been given this honorific by the Spanish because of recognition of her important role in the conquest.

Malinche was probably between the ages of 8 and 12 when she was either sold or kidnapped into slavery. Díaz wrote that after her father's death, she was given away to merchants by her mother and stepfather so that their son (Malinche's halfbrother) would have the rights of an heir. Scholars, historians, and literary critics alike have cast doubt upon Díaz's account of her origin, in large part due to his strong emphasis on Catholicism throughout his narration of the events.