pocho

See also: pochó, and po̱cho̱'

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish pocho (literally “discolored, faded”).

Noun

pocho (countable and uncountable, plural pochos)

1. (informal) A culturally assimilated Mexican-American.

   Coordinate term: Chicano

   • 2010, Chad Richardson, Batos, Bolillos, Pochos, and Pelados: Class and Culture on the South Texas Border, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 11:

     Both often cater to wealthy Mexicans who come to shop, although many of these Mexicans look down their noses at the pochos (assimilated Mexican Americans).

   • 2012, Earl Shorris, Latinos: A Biography of the People, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 170:

     But the pochos needed a gesture, anything, some kind of cultural safe house in which they could rest for a while from the endless war on two fronts.

2. (informal, uncountable) Spanglish
   • 1986, Mexico, Little Brown & Company, →ISBN:

     But some among their countrymen speak pocho; the descriptive term can be translated literally as “discolored” or “faded.” When used with respect to language, pocho means a slangy mixture of Spanish and English […]

   • 2000, Mario T. García, Luis Leal: An Auto/Biography, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 106:

     I especially appreciated how Villarreal changed the word pocho from a negative to a positive. The young protagonist, Richard Rubio, says, “I'm a pocho, I speak pocho, and I'm proud of it.”

Further reading

• “pocho”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• pooch

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpot͡ʃo/ [ˈpo.t͡ʃo]
• Rhymes: -otʃo
• Syllabification: po‧cho

Etymology 1

Of expressive origin and probably related to the root of pachucho (“under the weather; overripe”).

Noun

pocho m (uncountable)

1. (slang) Spanglish

Noun

pocho m (plural pochos, feminine pocha, feminine plural pochas)

1. (Mexico, slang, derogatory) pocho (assimilated Mexican-American who speaks poor or broken Spanish, and has become a gringo)

Adjective

pocho (feminine pocha, masculine plural pochos, feminine plural pochas)

1. (Spain, of fruit) rotten

   Synonym: podrido

2. (Spain, colloquial) sick
3. (also figurative) faded, pale

   Synonyms: marchito, ajado

4. (Mexico, derogatory) Americanized

   Synonym: agringado

Etymology 2

Verb

pocho

1. first-person singular present indicative of pochar

Further reading

• “pocho”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28
• Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN