# Chicanos - no offence **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332 "2004-01-02T18:30:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/1 "2004-01-02T18:30:43Z")
Some years ago I noticed that the term chicanos became common for Mexican Americans, Then after a while it became capitalised. I believe that some Mexican-Americans adopt it proudly and some find it offensive (apologies to anyone offended). I have looked and looked and looked but can’t find any derivation. The —canos bit seems easy - Mexicanos, but I thought the first bit had to do with Chicago (well what do I know). In a discount book shop I recently found a huge book about Mexican immigration into Emerica - no bloody answer. It’s driving me crazy because I see it all the time. And the answer is … ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/2 "2004-01-02T18:49:47Z")
[The dictionary can help with this.](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=chicano) The Merriam-Webster dictionary ( [www.m-w.com](http://www.m-w.com) ) supports the etymology, provided, here, that _chicano_ originated from a familiarized form of _mexicano_. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/3 "2004-01-02T18:58:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*[The dictionary can help with this.](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=chicano) The Merriam-Webster dictionary ( [www.m-w.com](http://www.m-w.com) ) supports the etymology, provided, here, that _chicano_ originated from a familiarized form of _mexicano_. \*\* Yes I’ve seen all that before, what I’m interested in is the first syllable… I’d love to know where the chi… comes from because it makes no sense to me at all. As I said I’ve looked in various reference books but can’t find its derivation. Thanks anyway. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/4 "2004-01-02T19:06:27Z")
Cubans familiarly call each other “chico” and this may be common in other Spanish-American countries. I wonder if that may be the root. ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/5 "2004-01-02T19:57:57Z")
AFAIK, Mexicano -\> Chicano by dropping the “Me”. The “x” in México is pronounced like a German or Scots “ch”, leading to Chicano. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/6 "2004-01-02T20:02:22Z")
The “ch-” in many Northern Mexican (and Southwestern U.S.) dialects has more of an “sh” sound. So Chicano may sound somehat like “shicano”, and is at times rendered as “Xicano”. The “x” in Spanish has covered several sounds over the centuries, but was used in Mexico to represent various sh-like sounds used in native languages. So “Mexica” (the ethnonym used by “Aztecs” in their Nahuatl language) sounds more like “Meshika”. Here’s where it becomes more anecdotal. In the 19th century, it is believed that the term “Xicano” or “Chicano” was used by the more or less Spanish descended Hispanos of areas like Santa Fé to describe later Mexican arrivals from central Mexico, who were more Native American and often Nahuatl speakers. It was a somewhat disparaging term, but was taken up by many of the Mexican-Americans as a term for themselves. ---
**Author:** ![xicanorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a88e57/32.png) [@xicanorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xicanorex)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/7 "2004-01-02T20:06:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by don’t ask \* > **Yes I’ve seen all that before, what I’m interested in is the first syllable… I’d love to know where the chi… comes from because it makes no sense to me at all** Well, here three theories: [http://www.nahj.org/resourceguide/intro2.html](http://www.nahj.org/resourceguide/intro2.html) [http://www.geocities.com/cruzzer2/chicano/whatischicano.htm](http://www.geocities.com/cruzzer2/chicano/whatischicano.htm) XicanoreX ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/8 "2004-01-02T20:07:39Z")
…also, while I haven’t seen this elsewhere, I have often wondered whether the term “chichimeca” (another originally pejorative Nahuatl term for the different Northern Uto-Aztecan tribes which spawned the Aztecs) had some influence on the word. ---
**Author:** ![xicanorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a88e57/32.png) [@xicanorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xicanorex)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/9 "2004-01-02T20:07:41Z")
D’oh! I meant two. XX ---
**Author:** ![toque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9e8a1a/32.png) [@toque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toque)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/10 "2004-01-02T22:58:49Z")
I think the term “La Rasa” has pretty much eclipsed “Chicano”, at least in California. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/11 "2004-01-02T23:27:37Z")
(Me) Xicano --\> Chicano makes a lot of sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicanos-no-offence/222332/12 "2004-01-03T03:46:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xicanorex \* > \*\*D’oh! I meant two. > > XX \*\* Inflation. Thanks for the answers.