pocho
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.52 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A Mexican-American, especially one regarded by Mexicans as being assimilated into mainstream American culture, often implying limited to no fluency in Spanish and disconnection from Mexican culture.
Countable; Derogatory; Informal; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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)."
- "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."
- "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 […]"
- "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.”"