cholo

[ choh-loh ]

noun

, Chiefly Southwestern U.S.

, plural cho·los.

1. (especially among Mexican Americans) a teenage boy who is a member of a street gang.
2. Usually Disparaging. a term used to refer to a Mexican or Mexican American.
3. a mestizo of Spanish America.

Sensitive Note

When used of a Mexican or Mexican American, the term cholo usually refers disparagingly to an immigrant who is considered to be low-class and poorly educated. However, cholo is also a term of self-reference used by Mexican American youths.

Word History and Origins

Origin of cholo¹

First recorded in 1850–55; from Mexican Spanish: “mestizo, peasant,” possibly a shortening of Cholollán (from Nahuatl Cholōllān, modern Cholula ), a city-state in pre-Columbian Mexico