gringo
English
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish gringo, from griego (“Greek”), used for anyone who spoke an unintelligible language. Doublet of Greek.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɡɹɪŋɡəʊ/
- Rhymes: -ɪŋɡəʊ
Noun
gringo (plural gringos or gringoes)
- (slang, often derogatory, in Latin America) a white person from an English-speaking country.
Synonyms
Related terms
- gringa (female)
Translations
a white person from an English-speaking country
Portuguese
Noun
gringo m (plural gringos, feminine gringa, feminine plural gringas)
- (colloquial) a foreigner, especially one from an advanced country and especially one from the United States
Usage notes
Unlike English and Spanish gringo, this Portuguese term is not inherently offensive.
Synonyms
Adjective
gringo m (feminine singular gringa, masculine plural gringos, feminine plural gringas, comparable)
- (slang, Brazil) foreign (from another country, especially the United States or another advanced one)
- Aquele cara ali é gringo.
- That dude over there is a foreigner.
- Comprei um telefone gringo.
- I bought a foreign-made telephone.
Spanish
Etymology
Possibly from griego (“Greek”), particularly from the phrase hablar en griego (“to speak Greek”), with a similar connotation to the English phrase it's all Greek to me.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈɡɾinɡo/, [ˈɡɾĩŋɡo]
Noun
gringo m (plural gringos, feminine gringa, feminine plural gringas)
- (sometimes derogatory, Latin America) foreigner, outlander
- 1996, Félix Rodríguez González, quoting Esteban de Terroros y Pando, 1786, Spanish Loanwords in the English Language, →ISBN, page 143:
- ... gringos, llaman en Málaga a los extranjeros, que tienen cierta especie de acento, que los priva de una locución fácil, y natural Castellana; y en Madrid dan el mismo, y por la misma causa con particularidad a los irlandeses. — gringos is what, in Malaga, they call foreigners who have a certain kind of accent that prevents them from speaking Castilian easily and naturally; and in Madrid they give the same name, in particular, to the Irish.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
- 2008 October 8, Antonio Caballero, “El negro gringo (o el gringo negro)”, in Semana, retrieved 2014-08-01:
- Pero la realidad es más terca que la corrección política, y el hecho real es que Barack Obama, próximo presidente de los Estados Unidos, es un gringo, y es un negro. O, si se prefiere así, es un negro, y es un gringo. — But the reality is more stubborn than political correctness, and the fact is that Barack Obama, the next president of the United States, is a gringo, and is black. Or, if you so prefer, is a black, and a gringo.
- (please add an English translation of this quote)
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Derived terms
- agringar
- gringo de agua juca (Honduras)
- Gringolandia, gringolandia f
- Gringotenango
- gringuera f (Honduras)
Further reading
- “gringo” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.
- Comprehensive etymology tracing it to before the Mexican-American war
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