English

Noun

gringo ‎(plural gringos or gringoes)

1. (slang, often pejorative, in Latin America) a white person from an English-speaking country.

Related terms

• gringa (female)

Translations

Anagrams

• goring

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from Spanish gringo.

Noun

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

1. (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

• estrangeiro

Adjective

gringo m ‎(feminine singular gringa, masculine plural gringos, feminine plural gringas, comparable)

1. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (slang, Brazil) very cool; fashionable
2. (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.

Noun

gringo m ‎(plural gringos, feminine gringa)

1. (sometimes pejorative, Latin America) foreigner, outlander
   • 1996, Félix Rodríguez González, quoting Esteban de Terroros y Pando, 1786, Spanish Loanwords in the English Language, ISBN 9783110148459, 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 hav a special of accent that prevents them from speaking Castilian easily and naturally; and in Madrid they give the same name, in particular, to the Irish.

   • 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.

Synonyms

• gabacho (Mexico)
• guiri (Spain)

Derived terms

• gringo de agua juca (Honduras)
• Gringolandia, gringolandia f
• Gringotenango
• gringuera f (Honduras)

Descendants

• English: gringo
• Portuguese: gringo

See also

• chele (Honduras)
• cholo
• grencho (Honduras)
• güero
• pocho
• guiri