vato

From Spanish vato, ultimately from chivato. Term is mostly used by people from northwest Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua, Baja California).

vato (plural vatos)

1. (Chicano, slang) Hispanic youth; guy; dude

• IPA^(key): /ˈvato/
• Hyphenation: va‧to
• Rhymes: -ato

Borrowed from French ouate, German Watte and English wad.

vato (accusative singular vaton, plural vatoj, accusative plural vatojn)

1. cotton wool

Borrowed from English watt, etc.

vato (accusative singular vaton, plural vatoj, accusative plural vatojn)

1. watt

   Synonyms: ŭato, vatto

• kilovato

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *batu, from Proto-Austronesian *batu (compare Cebuano bato, Fijian vatu, Hawaiian haku, Hiligaynon bato, Ilocano bato, Indonesian batu, Kapampangan batu, Malay batu, Maori whatu, Sundanese batu, Tagalog bato).

vato

1. rock, stone, cobble

• bato, jato

According to the Chicano poet Luis Alberto Urrea, the word originated in Pachuco slang of the 1940s, and is derived from "the once-common friendly insult chivato or goat.[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈbato/, [ˈbat̪o]

vato m (plural vatos, feminine vata, feminine plural vatas)

1. (Chicano, slang) Hispanic youth; guy; dude; boyfriend; significant other

   (please add the primary text of this usage example) ― The vato Harry Gonzalez is an idiot!

This term may be used with intimate friends or as a derogatory reference. In some contexts, the term has gang connotations. The feminine form, vata, is also used by Chicano prostitutes to refer to a female who owes them money.

• vato loco (“gangster, gangbanger”, literally “crazy dude”)