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{{short description|Spanish pejorative used in Spain for the French and in Mexico for the Americans}}
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In the Spanish language, the word '''{{lang|es|gabacho}}''' ({{gcl|F}} '''{{lang|es|gabacha}}''') describes foreigners of different national origins in the history of Spain. The word {{lang|es|gabacho}} originated in Peninsular Spain as a derogatory term for French people and things, and in contemporary usage the term retains the initial meaning. However, in other Hispanophone countries, the word {{lang|es|gabacho}} acquired a meaning similar to the word {{lang|es|[[guiri]]}} (a slur for light-skinned foreign tourists) in Spain.

In some Hispanophone countries of Latin America, the word {{lang|es|gabacho}} is akin to {{lang|es|[[gringo]]}} and refers to people and things from the [[United States]]. When the definite article {{lang|es|el}} is used, as in the phrase "{{lang|es|el gabacho}}" it refers to the country. In Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador {{lang|es|gabacho}} is a deprecatory reference for someone from the U.S. In Mexico, {{lang|es|el gabacho}} also identifies the U.S. as a place: "{{lang|es|Voy para el gabacho}}" (I’m going to the U.S.). Moreover, in the Central American varieties of Spanish, the word {{lang|es|gabacho}} refers to certain types of work-coats, such as the laboratory coat of a doctor, the smock of a kindergarten student, and a ceremonial vest worn in school-graduation ceremonies.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.definitions.net/definition/Gabacho |title=What Does Gabacho Mean? |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Definitions.net |publisher=STANDS4 LLC, 2017 |access-date=9 October 2017 |quote=Gabacho is a word used in the Spanish language to describe foreigners of different origins.}}</ref>

== Etymology ==
A possible root is the [[Catalan language|Catalan]] word [[wikt:gavatx|gavatx]] meaning foreigner{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}. Another possible root derives from the [[Occitan language|Occitan]] word {{lang|oc|gavach}}, meaning "someone who speaks with a faulty speech" or "someone who doesn't speak properly".<ref>[https://dle.rae.es/?id=IfhCbgS gabacho] at the ''[[Diccionario de la lengua española]]''</ref> This is the official position of the ''[[Diccionario de la lengua española]]''.

Robert A. Geuljans, etymologist, agrees with the connection between "gabacho" and the Aquitanian and Catalonian origins by considering that the origin of all, gabacho, gavatx and gavach comes from the [[Occitan language|Occitan]] word for "goiter", a disorder common in the French Pyrene caused for vitamin deficiency that impairs the ability to speak. Pilgrims afflicted had been traveling from France to Spain since the [[Middle Ages]], to follow the [[Camino de Santiago]] hoping for a miraculous cure.<ref>«Diccionario de Autoridades(1726–1739)». web.frl.es.</ref>

The word may also derive from a mock transcription of the French word for a long coat, specifically for the coats of the French soldiers during the late 18th and early 19th century.

The Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language claims the word originated in the 16th century, meaning "rude hillmen", and "he speaks badly the local language". According to the Diccionario de Autoridades in 1734, it is used for the people who originate from the folds of the Pyrenees, because in certain times of the year, they migrated to the Kingdom of Aragon and other parts, where they work in the lowest parts of society.<ref>
{{cite web |url=https://academiaolafrance.com/2017/03/14/de-donde-viene-la-palabra-gabacho/ |title="¿De dónde viene la palabra gabacho?." |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=academiaolafrance.com  |date=14 March 2017 |access-date=6 June 2021}}
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{{wiktionary|gabacho}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Ethnic slurs}}

[[Category:Anti-French sentiment in Europe]]
[[Category:Spanish slang]]
[[Category:Mexican slang]]
[[Category:Ethno-cultural designations]]
[[Category:Pejorative terms for strangers and foreigners]]
[[Category:Xenophobia]]
[[Category:Discrimination in Spain]]


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