''Gringo'' (, , ) (masculine) (or ''gringa'' (feminine)) is a term in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
for a foreigner, usually an English-speaking
Anglo-American
Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...
. There are differences in meaning depending on region and country. In
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, it is generally used to refer to non-
Latin Americans
Latin Americans ( es, Latinoamericanos; pt, Latino-americanos; ) are the citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their diasporas are multi-ethn ...
. The term is often considered a
pejorative
A pejorative or slur is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or a disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hostility, or disregard. Sometimes, a ...
in English, and in the United States its usage and offensiveness is disputed.
[English dictionaries:
*
*
*
*
Spanish dictionaries:
*
*
Portuguese dictionaries:
* ]
The word derives from the term used by the
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
for a Greek person: ''griego''.
According to the ''
Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
'', the first recorded use in English comes from
John Woodhouse Audubon
John Woodhouse Audubon (November 30, 1812, Henderson, Kentucky – February 21, 1862, New York City) was the second son of the famed ornithologist and painter, John James Audubon. Like his father, he was primarily a painter of wildlife, but als ...
's ''Western Journal of 1849–1850'',
["Gringo"](_blank)
From the ''Oxford English Dictionary
The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a com ...
''. Retrieved November 28, 2008. in which Audubon reports that his party was hooted and shouted at and called "Gringoes" while passing through the town of Cerro Gordo,
Veracruz
Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...
.
Etymology
The word ''gringo'' originally referred to any kind of foreigner. It was first recorded in 1787 in the Spanish ''Diccionario castellano con las voces de Ciencias y Artes'':
[Beatriz Varela, "Ethnic Nicknames of Spanish Origin", in (]
backup link
')
The most likely theory is that it originates from ''griego'' ('Greek'), used in the same way as the English phrase "it's
Greek to me
That's Greek to me or it's (all) Greek to me is an idiom in English referring to an expression that is difficult to understand for the sayer. It is commonly a complex or imprecise verbal or written expression or diagram, often containing excessive ...
".
Spanish is known to have used Greek as a stand-in for incomprehensibility, though now less common, such as in the phrase ''hablar en griego'' (lit. 'to speak Greek'). The 1817 ''Nuevo diccionario francés-español'', for example, gives ''gringo'' and ''griego'' as synonyms in this context:
This derivation requires two steps: ''griego'' > ''grigo'', and ''grigo'' > ''gringo''. Corominas notes that while the first change is common in Spanish (e.g. ''
priesa'' to ''
prisa''), there is no perfect analogy for the second, save in
Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
(''Gregoire'' to ''Grigoire'' to ''Gringoire'').
[''Griego'' at '']Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana
The ''Diccionario crítico etimológico de la lengua castellana'' is a four-volume etymological dictionary of Spanish compiled by the Catalan philologist Joan Corominas (1905-1997), and first published by Francke Verlag in Bern, Switzerland, in ...
'', Vol. II, pag. 784 (25), Joan Corominas
Joan Coromines i Vigneaux (; also frequently spelled ''Joan Corominas''; Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, by Joan Corominas icand José Antonio Pascual, Editorial Gredos, 1989, Madrid, . Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain 1 ...
, Francke Verlag, Berna, 1954, However, there are other Spanish words whose colloquial form contains an
epenthetic
In phonology, epenthesis (; Greek language, Greek ) means the addition of one or more sounds to a word, especially in the beginning syllable (''prothesis (linguistics), prothesis'') or in the ending syllable (''paragoge'') or in-between two syll ...
''n'', such as ''
gordiflón'' and ''
gordinflón'' ('chubby'), and ''
Cochinchina
Cochinchina or Cochin-China (, ; vi, Đàng Trong (17th century - 18th century, Việt Nam (1802-1831), Đại Nam (1831-1862), Nam Kỳ (1862-1945); km, កូសាំងស៊ីន, Kosăngsin; french: Cochinchine; ) is a historical exony ...
'' and ''
Conchinchina'' ('South Vietnam'). It is also possible that the final form was influenced by the word ''
jeringonza
Jeringonza is a Spanish language game played by children in Spain and all over Hispanic America. It consists of adding the letter ''p'' after each vowel of a word, and repeating the vowel. For example, ''Carlos'' turns into ''Cápar-lopos''.
F ...
'', a game like
Pig Latin
Pig Latin is a language game or argot in which words in English are altered, usually by adding a fabricated suffix or by moving the onset or initial consonant or consonant cluster of a word to the end of the word and adding a vocalic syllable ...
also used to mean "gibberish".
Alternatively, it has been suggested that ''gringo'' could derive from the
Caló language
Caló (; ; ; ) is a language spoken by the Spanish and Portuguese Romani. It is a mixed language (referred to as a Para-Romani language in Romani linguistics) based on Romance grammar, with an adstratum of Romani lexical items through language ...
, the language of the
Romani people of Spain
The Romani in Spain, generally known by the exonym () or the endonym ''Calé'', belong to the Iberian Cale Romani subgroup, with smaller populations in Portugal (known as ) and in Southern France. Their sense of identity and cohesion stems f ...
, as a variant of the hypothetical *''peregringo'', 'peregrine', 'wayfarer', 'stranger'.
Folk etymologies
There are several
folk etymologies
Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...
that purport to derive the origin of ''gringo'' from word coincidences. Many of these folk etymologies date the word to the
Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...
(1846–1848):
* Gringo is a result of American troops singing songs which began with "Green grows..." such as "
Green Grow the Rushes, O
Green Grow the Rushes, O (alternatively "Ho" or "Oh") (also known as "The Twelve Prophets", "The Carol of the Twelve Numbers", "The Teaching Song", "The Dilly Song", or "The Ten Commandments"), is an English folk song (Roud #133). It is sometimes ...
", "
Green Grow the Lilacs
Green Grow the Lilacs is a folk song of Irish origin that was popular in the United States during the mid-19th century.
The song title is the source of a folk etymology for the word '' gringo'' that states that the Mexicans misheard U.S. troops ...
", and various others.
* Another theory involves locals yelling "Green, go home!" at invading American soldiers (sometimes in conflicts other than the Mexican–American War), in reference to their supposedly green uniforms.
* Another derives from the Irish "
Erin go bragh
Erin go Bragh ( ), sometimes Erin go Braugh, is the anglicisation of an Irish language phrase, , and is used to express allegiance to Ireland. It is most often translated as "Ireland Forever."
Origin
''Erin go Bragh'' is an anglicisation of ...
" ("Ireland forever"), which served as the motto for
Saint Patrick's Battalion
The Saint Patrick's Battalion ( es, Batallón de San Patricio, later reorganized as the Foreign Legion of Patricios) was a unit of 175 to several hundred (accounts vary) Immigration, immigrants and expatriates of European descent who fought as p ...
who fought alongside the Mexican army.
Regional usage
Argentina
The word ''gringo'' is mostly used in rural areas following the original Spanish meaning. ''Gringo'' in Argentina was used to refer to non-Spanish European immigrants who first established agricultural colonies in the country. The word was used for
Swiss
Swiss may refer to:
* the adjectival form of Switzerland
* Swiss people
Places
* Swiss, Missouri
* Swiss, North Carolina
*Swiss, West Virginia
* Swiss, Wisconsin
Other uses
*Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports
*Swiss Internation ...
,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
,
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
and other immigrants, but since the Italian immigrants were the larger group, the word primarily referred to
Italians
, flag =
, flag_caption = The national flag of Italy
, population =
, regions = Italy 55,551,000
, region1 = Brazil
, pop1 = 25–33 million
, ref1 =
, region2 ...
in the ''
lunfardo
Lunfardo (; from the Italian ''lombardo'' or inhabitant of Lombardy in the local dialect) is an argot originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in Buenos Aires and from there spread to other urban are ...
''
argot
A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argot ...
. It also found use in the intermittent exercise
Gringo-Gaucho between
Argentine Naval Aviation
)
Gulf War
, anniversaries =
, decorations =
, battle_honours =
, commander1 = President
, commander1_label = Commander-in-Chief
, commander2 ...
and
US Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...
aircraft carriers. More recently, young people may use ''gringo'' to refer to
US citizens.
Brazil
In
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, the word ''gringo'' means "foreigner" and has no connection to physical characteristics or specific countries. For example, foreign
football players in the
Brazilian Championship that come from other Latin American countries are referred to as "gringos" by the sports media and by sports fans. Tourists are called ''gringos'' regardless of their ethnic origins (i.e. Latin Americans or people from other regions, like Europe).
As the word has no connection to physical appearance in Brazil,
black African
Black is a Racialization, racialized classification of people, usually a Politics, political and Human skin color, skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have ...
or
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
foreigners are also called ''gringos''. Popularly used terms for fair-skinned and blond people are generally based in specific nationalities, like "alemão" (i.e.,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
), "russo" (
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
) or, in some regions, "galego" (
Galician) which are used for both Brazilians and foreigners with such characteristics, regardless of national or ethnic origins.
Mexico
![Gringo Gazette](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Gringo_Gazette.jpg)
In Mexico, the use of the word "gringo" has been reserved for people from the U.S., especially
Anglo Americans
Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...
, since the end of the 19th century.
The term is mentioned in its meaning of "incomprehensible language" from the 18th century (1789) to the 1830s, but also to indicate foreign troops, at first, coming from Spain in the second half of the 18th century. A text published in Mexico, but written by a Spaniard, denigrates a Mexican from Sonora for speaking "gringo", in reference to the indigenous language. After the
Mexican-American War
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexicans, Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% ...
, ''gringo'' began to be used for citizens from that country, with expressions such as "American gringo" or simply ''gringo'', attested as in popular use in Tepetitlán in 1849. Since then, ''gringo'' became a way to designate United States citizens exclusively.
United States
In the United States, ''gringo'' is often used by
Latino Americans
Hispanic and Latino Americans ( es, Estadounidenses hispanos y latinos; pt, Estadunidenses hispânicos e latinos) are Americans of Spanish and/or Latin American ancestry. More broadly, these demographics include all Americans who identify as ...
to refer to
Anglo Americans
Anglo-Americans are people who are English-speaking inhabitants of Anglo-America. It typically refers to the nations and ethnic groups in the Americas that speak English as a native language, making up the majority of people in the world who spe ...
.
It is considered to be a
racial slur
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
targeted towards non-Hispanic white people but it may also refer to any person that is not
Latino
Latino or Latinos most often refers to:
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America
* Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States
* The people or cultures of Latin America;
** Latin A ...
.
Among the US Latino communities it may also disparagingly refer to another Latino person perceived to not be culturally Latino, e.g. inability to speak Spanish.
Other regions
In Bolivia, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru, the term is used for referring to
blond
Blond (male) or blonde (female), also referred to as fair hair, is a hair color characterized by low levels of the dark pigment eumelanin. The resultant visible hue depends on various factors, but always has some yellowish color. The color can ...
e people.
Other uses
Food
In
Mexican cuisine
Mexican cuisine consists of the cooking cuisines and traditions of the modern country of Mexico. Its earliest roots lie in Mesoamerican cuisine. Its ingredients and methods begin with the first agricultural communities such as the Olmec and M ...
, a ''
gringa
''Gringo'' (, , ) (masculine) (or ''gringa'' (feminine)) is a term in Spanish and Portuguese for a foreigner, usually an English-speaking Anglo-American. There are differences in meaning depending on region and country. In Latin America, it is g ...
'' is a flour tortilla with
al pastor
(from Spanish, "shepherd style"), is a preparation of spit-grilled slices of pork originating in the Central Mexican region of Puebla, although today it is a common menu item found in throughout Mexico. The method of preparing and cooking is ...
pork meat with cheese, heated on a ''
comal
COMAL (''Common Algorithmic Language'') is a computer programming language developed in Denmark by Børge R. Christensen and Benedict Løfstedt and originally released in 1975. COMAL was one of the few structured programming languages that was a ...
'' and optionally served with a ''salsa de chile'' (chilli sauce). Some attribute the name to the white flour used.
Activism
In 1969,
José Ángel Gutiérrez
José Angel Gutiérrez, is an attorney and professor at the University of Texas at Arlington in the United States. He was a founding member of the Mexican American Youth Organization (MAYO) in San Antonio in 1967, and a founding member and past pr ...
, one of the leaders of the
Mexican American Youth Organization The Mexican American Youth Organization (acronym MAYO, also described as the Mexican Youth Organization) is a civil rights organization formed in 1967 in San Antonio, Texas, USA to fight for Mexican-American rights. The creators of MAYO, Los Cinco ...
, said his and MAYO's use of the term, rather than referring to non-Latinos, referred to people or institutions with policies or attitudes that reflect racism and violence.
See also
*
Anglo
Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term '' Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people ...
– used as a synonym for
non-Latino whites in the United States
*
List of ethnic slurs
The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...
*
Notes
References
{{Ethnic slurs
1780s neologisms
Anti-Americanism
Pejorative terms for in-group non-members
Mexican slang
Mexican Spanish
Mexican-American history
Spanish words and phrases
Portuguese words and phrases
Social rejection