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gringo

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Spanish gringo , from griego ("Greek"), used for anyone who spoke an unintelligible language. Doublet of Greek .

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gringo (plural gringos or gringoes )

  1. (chiefly Hispanic slang , humorous or derogatory ) A white person from an English-speaking country, particularly the United States.
    • 2017, B. M. Bower, The Gringos: The Tale of the California Gold Rush Days:
      Truly it is as Don José tells me; these gringos have come but to make trouble where all was peace.
    • 2026 February 23, Belén Fernández, "El Mencho’s killing won’t solve Mexico’s cartel problem – or anything else", in Al Jazeera English ‎[1] , archived from the original on 3 March 2026:
      Indeed, much like her predecessor and mentor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Sheinbaum has perfected the art of doing the gringos’ dirty work while purporting to act in a "sovereign" fashion – and even to defy the imperial overlords to the north.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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a white person from an English-speaking country

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Portuguese

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Portuguese Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia pt

Etymology

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Etymology tree
Ancient Greek Γραικός (Graikós)bor.
Latin Graecus
Old Spanish griego
Spanish griego der.
Spanish gringo bor.
Portuguese gringo

    Borrowed from Spanish gringo .

    Pronunciation

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    • Rhymes: -ĩɡu
    • Hyphenation: gri‧go

    Noun

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    gringo m (plural gringos , feminine gringa , feminine plural gringas )

    1. (Brazil , colloquial ) a foreigner
      Synonym: estrangeiro
      Aquele cara ali é um gringo.
      That dude over there is a foreigner.
    2. (Rio Grande do Sul , colloquial ) someone of Italian or (more broadly) European descent.
      Synonym: colono

    Derived terms

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    Adjective

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    gringo (feminine gringa , masculine plural gringos , feminine plural gringas )

    1. (Brazil , colloquial ) foreign (from another country, especially from the Global North)
      Comprei um telefone gringo.
      I bought a foreign-made telephone.

    Usage notes

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    • Compared to English and Spanish gringo , Portuguese gringo is not as often derogatory. Its usage varies between speakers and can have a broader meaning if compared to English and Spanish[1] :
      • It can refer to any foreigner — common use of the term as seen in news reports.
      • It can refer to people from the Global North exclusively, especially from Western Europe, the US and Canada — commonly seen in social media.
      • It can refer only to Americans — rare usage.

    References

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    1. ^ Blanchette, Thaddeus (Sep.–Dec. 2002), "Estrangeiro - Gringo - Brasileiro: Aproximação e afastamento entre brasileiros e não-brasileiros", in TRAVESSIA - Revista do Migrante (in Portuguese), number 44, São Paulo: Peres, →DOI , retrieved 18 January 2024, pages 18–23

    Further reading

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    Spanish

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    Etymology

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    Etymology tree
    Ancient Greek Γραικός (Graikós)bor.
    Latin Graecus
    Old Spanish griego
    Spanish griego der.
    Spanish gringo

      Possibly from griego ("Greek; an unintelligible language"), particularly from the phrase hablar en griego ("to speak Greek") used in Spain to refer to a foreigner's speech, with a similar connotation to the English phrase it's all Greek to me , while in Latin America its usage was extended to people. Possibly influenced by peregrino ("pilgrim").

      Pronunciation

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      • IPA (key): /ˈɡɾinɡo/ [ˈɡɾĩŋ.ɡo]
      • Rhymes: -inɡo
      • Syllabification: grin‧go

      Noun

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      gringo m (plural gringos , feminine gringa , feminine plural gringas ) (sometimes derogatory )

      1. (much of Latin America ) an American (anyone from the United States, sometimes including Puerto Ricans)
        Synonyms: estadounidense , yanqui
        • 2008 October 8, Antonio Caballero, "El negro gringo (o el gringo negro)", in Semana‎[2] , retrieved 1 August 2014:
          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 black, and is a gringo.
      2. (Peru ) a light-skinned foreigner
      3. (regional , loosely ) someone from the Anglosphere
        • 1786, Esteban de Terroros y Pando, Beatriz Varela, Diccionario castellano con las voces de Ciencias y Artes y sus correspondientes en las 3 lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, →ISBN; quoted in "Ethnic nicknames of Spanish origin in American English", in Félix Rodríguez González, editor, Spanish Loanwords in the English Language: A Tendency towards Hegemony Reversal‎[3] , Berlin; New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1996, 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.

      Usage notes

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      • In Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, gringo is not as common and yanqui /yankee /yanki is typically used instead for Americans.
      • In Brazil, Portuguese gringo can refer to any foreigner.

      Derived terms

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      Descendants

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      Adjective

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      gringo (feminine gringa , masculine plural gringos , feminine plural gringas )

      1. (much of Latin America ) American
        Synonym: estadounidense

      See also

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      Further reading

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      Swedish

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      Noun

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      gringo c

      1. a gringo

      Declension

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      References

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