The origin and definition of the word gringo often comes up on travel forums about Latin America. And too often there is a rather heated debate about the origin and meaning of the word. There are also questions about whether the use of the word is derogatory or not.

Let’s first look at the usage of the word in English and then in Spanish.

The Oxford English Dictionary, the definitive source for understanding the usage of words in English, defines gringo in the following way: “Among Spanish Americans, a contemptuous name for an Englishman or an Anglo-American.”.

However, from my experiences the OED is not entirely accurate on this one. The OED seems to reflect mostly the usage of the word gringo among Mexicans and some other countries in Central America.

In its usually superb fashion, the OED traces the use of the word through quoting its various appearances in the English language:

1849 J. W. AUDUBON Western Jrnl. (1906) 13 June 100 We were hooted and shouted at as we passed through, and called ‘Gringoes’. 1871 Republican Rev. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 14 Jan. 2/2 Three Mexicans from Socorro..calling her a gringo bitch, finally threw her on the body of her husband. 1876 Congress. Record 30 June 4310/1 Cortina has never failed to rouse the hatred of the Mexican population against the ‘gringos’. 1884 Harper’s Mag. Oct. 748/2 Gringo, a term of ridicule and obloquy applied to Americans throughout all Mexico.

However, the OED goes on to list another usage by Willa Cather: 1927 W. CATHER Death comes for Archbishop V. i. 135 Any European, except a Spaniard, was regarded as a gringo.

This last definition seems to get at the broader of usage of the word in some countries of Latin America.

English speakers, perhaps in characteristic myopia, often fail to recognize that the word gringo was used in the Spanish language before it was used in the English language. Afterall, it is a Spanish word.

So, rather than the OED, a better resource is the Diccionario de la Lengua Española from the Real Academia Española. This dictinoary provides 7 variations on the use of the word gringo.

In summary: in some countries, such as Mexico and other parts of Central America, the word gringo refers specifically to people from the United States. In other countries, the word gringo refer to any foreigner, though more commonly one who speaks English or is light-skinned.

For example, in Argentina the term historically was used by Argentines of Spanish descent to refer to Italian immigrants.

As for the etymology of the word gringo in Spanish, the usual explanation is that it comes from the Spanish word Griego or Greek. The word gringo appears in the 1787 Diccionario Castellano. I’ve not viewed this dictionary myself, but I’ve read elsewhere that this 18th century definition states that the term gringo was used by the Spanish to refer to foreigners. Particularly, in Malaga to those who spoke Spanish poorly and in Madrid to those from Ireland. Like I said, since I’ve not seen this dictionary, I’m not sure about the specifics of the definition in the 18th century other than it has a connotation of refering to foreigners. (Were there a lot of Irish in 18th century Madrid?)

Also, people from the U.S. will generally take offense at being called a gringo but that’s largely due to the hypersensitivity over racism in the U.S. in an age of political correctness.

Another common word in Latin America to refer to people from the US is yanqui. However, many people from the Southeastern part of the U.S. would take offense at being called a yankee. In the states of the former Confederacy that lost a civil war to secede from the U.S. in the mid-1800s, the term yankee is very negative. Indeed, I am from one of those states, Tennessee. And I can tell you that in the hills of Tennessee, calling someone a yankee is likely to get you in a lot of trouble - if not shot!

What I actually find most interesting about the various uses of the word gringo is that it really does highlight the different cultural perspective of each country. People in the U.S. often have this myth that there is one homogeneous Latin American culture and don’t recognize the huge cultural differences between different countries in Central and South America. The different uses of the word gringo obviously reflect the differences among countries in Latin America and understanding that difference is one reason why we all travel throughout Latin America.