''Che'' (; ; pt, tchê ; ca-valencia, xe ) is an

interjection An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling or reaction. It is a diverse category, encompassing many different parts of speech, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curse ...

commonly used in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to ...

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a state in the southern region of Brazil. It is the fifth-most-populous state and the ninth largest by area. Located in the southernmost part of the country, Rio Grande do Sul is border ...

( Brazil) and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area also ...

(

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

), signifying "

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

!", "fellow", "guy". ''Che'' is mainly used as a

vocative In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed, or occasionally for the noun modifiers ( determiners, adjectives, participles, and n ...

to call someone's attention (akin to "mate" or "buddy" in English), but it is often used as filler too (akin to "right" or "so" in English). The Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara earned his nickname from his frequent use of the expression, which was perceived as foreign by his Cuban comrades.

Etymology

is an

of unclear origin. According to the , it is comparable to the archaic used in Spain to ask for someone's attention or to make someone stop. is now mainly used in Argentina and Uruguay, but is also predominant in Bolivia, Paraguay, the "Rio Grande do Sul" region of Brazil, and also in Valencia, Spain with a similar meaning. Due to its spread in South America, alternative etymologies have been suggested by analogy with indigenous words: *In Tupi-Guarani, spoken by certain ethnic groups from Argentina to Brazil, means simply "I" or "my." *In the native

Araucanian The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sh ...

and Chonan language families of the Southern Cone, means "man" or "people" and is often used as a suffix for

ethnonyms An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

in these languages (such as

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who sh ...

Huilliche The Huilliche , Huiliche or Huilliche-Mapuche are the southern partiality of the Mapuche macroethnic group of Chile. Located in the Zona Sur, they inhabit both Futahuillimapu ("great land of the south") and, as the Cunco subgroup, the north ha ...

, Tehuelche, and Puelche). * In

Kimbundu Kimbundu, a Bantu language which has sometimes been called Mbundu or 'North Mbundu' (see Umbundu), is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola. Its speakers are concentrated in the north-west of the country, notably in the Lua ...

, spoken by Congolese slaves during colonial times, means " hey!", an interjection for calling someone.

Usage

The first recorded use of in Spanish America appears to be in 19th-century Argentine writer Esteban Echeverría's short story "

The Slaughter Yard The Slaughter Yard (Spanish ''El matadero'', title often imprecisely translated as ''The Slaughterhouse''The Spanish word ''matadero'' does not necessarily imply a building. In 19th century Buenos Aires cattle were frequently killed in open air y ...

" (""), published posthumously in 1871 but set in 1838–1839 in the Rosas era.

("Hey, you black witch, get out of here before I gash you," said the butcher.)

Falkland Islands

In the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubou ...

, is commonly used by English speakers (""). It can also be written as "". The word is sometimes used to describe someone who is a particularly traditional Falkland Islander ("").

Valencia

, is widely used in

and Terres de l'Ebre, Catalonia (written as ), as an interjection. With the spelling "" in

Valencian Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the El Carche comarca in Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance language also known as Cat ...

, its main use is to express protest, surprise or exasperation. is one of the symbols of the Valencian identity to the point where, for example the

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the Spa ...

is often referred to with the nickname "Xe Team".

Philippines

In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, (also spelled ) is used to express the dismissing another person or interrupting another person's speech, similar in context to the English expression "Shut up!".

References

External links

{{wiktionary, che#Spanish Che Guevara Languages of Argentina Spanish slang