gabacho

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Occitan gavach originally ‘bird’s crop, goitre, swelling’, later ‘mountain-dweller, northerner, peasant’ (because of the high incidence of disease in these populations).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaˈbat͡ʃo/ [ɡaˈβ̞a.t͡ʃo]
• Rhymes: -atʃo
• Syllabification: ga‧ba‧cho

Adjective

gabacho (feminine gabacha, masculine plural gabachos, feminine plural gabachas)

1. (geography) Pyrenean
2. Gallic, frenchified

Noun

gabacho m (plural gabachos, feminine gabacha, feminine plural gabachas)

1. a villager from the Pyrenees
2. (colloquial, Spain) a Frenchman, a frog, Frenchy, baguette

   Synonym: franchute

3. (colloquial, mildly pejorative, Texas) a white man of any nation (originally the word for rutabaga)
4. (colloquial, derogatory, Mexico) foreigner, gringo, specifically, from the United States

Further reading

• “gabacho”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28
• “gabacho” in Diccionario de americanismos, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española, 2010