hombre

English

WOTD – 16 September 2017

Etymology

A sombrero-wearing mariachi singer in Chicago, Illinois, USA

Borrowed from Spanish hombre (“man; human being”), from Old Spanish omne, from Latin hominem, accusative of homō (“a human being, a person”), from Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Italic *hemō (“man”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”), from *dʰéǵʰōm (“earth”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒmbɹeɪ/, /-bɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑmbɹeɪ/, /ˈʌmbɹeɪ/, /-bɹi/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: hom‧bre

Noun

hombre (plural hombres)

1. (chiefly US, in Spanish-speaking contexts, slang) A man, a chap, a guy; especially a Hispanic or Spanish man.

   He's one tough hombre.

   • c. 1850, [Thomas] Mayne Reid, “A Group of Jarochos”, in The Guerilla Chief, and Other Tales, London: C. H. Clarke, 13, Paternoster Row, OCLC 248586966, page 62:

     [W]e're glad to learn that the Yankee bullet has not quite stopped your breath. You're all right, hombre!

   • 1852 March 8, E. P., “Golden Correspondence.—No. 1”, in J[oseph] M. Church, editor, Church’s Bizarre. For Fireside and Wayside, volume I, number 1 (New Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: Church & Co., 140 Chestnut Street, published 17 April 1852, OCLC 667127446, page 9, column 2:

     That hombre now with the worn out hat, tattered shirt, and fragmentary breeches, wears a sword. Bless you, his dignity would suffer greatly without it!

   • 2010, Jon Sharpe [pseudonym], chapter 1, in Rocky Mountain Revenge (The Trailsman; no. 342), New York, N.Y.: Signet Books, New American Library, →ISBN:

     The foreman. As tough an hombre who ever lived. If Mr. Bell had sent Jackson instead of me, he'd take your rifle and beat you half to death with it.

   • 2016, Lawrence Winkler, “Bajada”, in Orion’s Cartwheel (Cartwheels Quadrilogy; 1), Victoria, B.C.: First Choice Books, →ISBN, page 22:

     There was a pause I didn't like, punctuated by shrieks of shrill laughter from the hombres at the bar. Only Mexicans can laugh like that.

Further reading

• hombre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

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Aragonese

Etymology

From Navarro-Aragonese hombre (“man”), from Latin homo, hominem (“man”).

Noun

hombre m

1. (anthropology) man
2. husband

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French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ̃bʁ/
• Homophones: hombres, ombre, ombres, ombrent

Noun

hombre m (plural hombres)

1. A kind of card game from Spain.

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Navarro-Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin homo, hominem (“man”).

Noun

hombre m

1. man
   • SEGVNT QVE HAVE mos ſeydo en muytos liuros el primo hombŕ q̃ se poblo en España hauia nombre Tubaſ .del qual yxio la geuacon dlos ybers . [1]

Descendants

edit

• Aragonese: hombre, ombre

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Spanish

Alternative forms

• honbre (obsolete)
• ombre (obsolete)
• onbre (obsolete)

Etymology

Through dissimilation from Old Spanish omne, from Latin hominem, accusative of homō, from Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”). Same source as the form omo (which does not exhibit diphthongisation either). Compare Portuguese homem and Catalan home.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈombɾe/, [ˈõmbɾe]
  • Rhymes: -ombɾe

Noun

hombre m (plural hombres)

1. Man, in the sense of adult male human.
2. Man, in the sense of all humans collectively; mankind, humankind.
3. (anthropology, archaeology, paleontology) man, in the sense of an individual of the species Homo sapiens, the genus Homo, or the subtribe Hominina.
4. (colloquial) Husband.
5. a top in male-male sex.
6. a 17th century card game also called ombre.

Derived terms

(diminutive hombrecillo or hombrecito) (augmentative hombretón)

Synonyms

• (husband): marido
• (adult male human, gent): caballero, señor
• (human): humano, persona, ser humano

Antonyms

• mujer

Interjection

¡hombre!

1. Man!
2. Hey!
3. Oh, come on!