Etymologically
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gringo

Etymology and origin of the English word gringo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈɡɹɪŋɡəʊ/ (UK); /ˈɡɹɪŋɡoʊ/ (US)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish gringo (“foreign; foreign language, gibberish”),[2][3][4][5][6] probably an alteration of griego “Greek”,[2][3][5][6] from Latin Graecus,[2][3][5] from the idea of unintelligible speech, as in “it's Greek to me”.[2] Etymonline notes that this may be folk etymology.[4] The story that it comes from a song such as Green Grow the Lilacs sung by American soldiers in Mexico has no basis;[4][6] the word is recorded in Spain in 1787 for foreigners with an accent, especially the Irish.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A foreigner, especially an English person or American, in Latin America (by 1841 in Etymonline; 1849 in the American Heritage Dictionary, Barnhart and the OED).[4][2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The first English quotation, from John Woodhouse Audubon's Western Journal (1849), describes travellers in Mexico being hooted at and called gringoes.[2] The word is generally disparaging,[2][5][7] and Merriam-Webster notes that it is broadly applied to any non-Hispanic person.[5]

Timeline

  • 1787 – Spanish gringos, foreigners with an accent.[4]
  • 1841 – in English, of an Englishman in Chile.[4]
  • 1849 – Audubon's Western Journal.[2][3][7]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. (often disparaging) In Latin America or Spain, a foreigner, especially an American or English person; broadly, a non-Hispanic person.
  • gringa
  • Greek

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
  3. ^ a b c d e Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas, Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
  7. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Gringo.” Etymologically, 11 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/gringo. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·