Spanish Slang For American (8 Examples!)

The Spanish language has spread to many corners of the world, and thus it has developed an extensive vocabulary of slang terms for different nationalities.

Whether you are in Spain or Mexico, there are slang terms for Americans in any Spanish-speaking nation—and more than one!

Today, we’re going to look at some of the most common Spanish slang terms for American, so let’s get started.

Gringo

To start off, we have one with which you are likely somewhat familiar.

Gringo, in the masculine, or gringa, in the feminine.

This is a very old term, and today is a slang term meaning an American.

It can also mean any foreigner, though it at the very least means an Anglo-American, English-speaking foreigner.

Generally, it means an American today.

It’s also by no means an insult, despite what you might think.

The term was first recorded in a Spanish dictionary in 1787.

It is thought that the term originated from griego, which means Greek.

The phrase “it’s Greek to me” meant, and still means today, that something is foreign and unintelligible.

Greek often had this sense in Spanish.

It is most commonly used in Mexico and Latin America today.

Americano

The interesting thing about Spanish slang is that Spain maintains a language academy to ensure the stability of its language, just as do other languages such as French and Icelandic.

The RAE as it is known often gives guidelines on what is and isn’t proper language.

“Americano” is a piece of slang that they technically endorse, typically meaning someone from the United States although it can encompass North America.

This is a common form of a number of European languages, such as Italian as well as Spanish.

So, it’s hard to say with any certainty where and when it originated. It’s likely a very old term, that was passed to indigenous peoples by Spanish colonizers.

Norteamericano

The Spanish academy also suggests the use of this term to refer to someone from North America.

It’s part slang, but also it is becoming a standard term to a greater degree.

It’s really a term you would use to talk about someone, rather than to address them.

Nonetheless, this is one of the standard terms in Spanish slang for an American, used both in Spain and in Spanish-speaking parts of Central and South America.

Its origin, again, is quite evident.

It is just a Spanish term meaning North American.

Grencho

This next one is quite regionally specific and is used more or less exclusively in the Central American nation of Honduras.

Here, Americans are referred to as Grencho.

The feminine form is Grencha. It does have two meanings, although not in the same place. It is also used in El Salvador to mean something entirely different.

This one certainly is derogatory, at least to a degree. It is most likely simply a borrowing of the root term gringo, which we looked at earlier.

It was mingled with local, indigenous languages to become grencho.

However, when this happened is all but impossible to tell.

Even today, all we really have are the oral accounts of the use of the word, and a few historic written examples.

Yanqui

This one is used broadly across Latin America, the majority of which speaks Spanish as its first language.

A yanqui is any American, meant to distinguish them from any Latin American.

It is sometimes derogatory, although it doesn’t have to be.

It just may be more likely to be derogatory in unfamiliar settings.

In terms of origin, as far as we can tell it is simply borrowed from the English term Yankee, which means an American person.

This, in turn, was borrowed from a Dutch word for someone from the United States.

Yoni

Our next term is yoni, which is used primarily in Argentina, parts of Ecuador and in Uruguay.

La yoni can also mean the United States itself, but a yoni is simply an American.

It’s, again, not always derogatory or intended to be rude, though it may come across this way in the wrong settings.

It just means an American.

Like yanqui, it is most likely an altered form of Yankee.

When it came to starting being used, we cannot say with any certainty.

Yuma

Next, we have Yuma, which is a slang term found exclusively in Cuba.

Again, La Yuma is Cuban slang for the United States, while a Yuma or Yumas is an American, particularly an American in Cuba.

The Cubans have no shortage of slang for Americans, so, again, the tone of this word will depend on the familiarity of the setting.

But it is by no means inherently derogatory.

Although we aren’t entirely sure where the term originates, a good bet is that it comes from the classic Hollywood Western, “3:10 to Yuma”.

This hit Cuban theatres in 1957, and after that is when the term comes into popular use to mean American.

Gabacho

Though the origin of this term is actually way back in Peninsular Spain, where it meant a foreigner or even a derogatory term for French, today it is more widely used in Mexico.

Further, it has lost the original, broader meaning, and today just means an American.

Again, you have a masculine and feminine form, gabacha being the feminine.

Again, even though it is etymologically distinct from gringo, it seems to plainly be a borrowing from that term.

There are many ways to refer to an American in Spanish slang, then.

Some are more regional than others, and some perhaps have a slightly different connotation than others.

In any case, the longstanding close relationships between Spanish-speaking peoples and Americans have led to a rich array of slang terms being used for them.

These are the most common among them.

More in Spanish slang

• Spanish Slang For American
• Spanish Slang For Brother
• Spanish Slang For Cool
• Spanish Slang For Drugs
• Spanish Slang For Fat
• Spanish Slang For Friend
• Spanish Slang For Girl
• Spanish Slang For Gossip
• Spanish Slang For Immigration
• Spanish Slang For Lazy
• Spanish Slang For Money