Etymology

vato

V4A1T1O1

Today it means: A Hispanic youth; a guy; a dude. Full definition →

Spanish vato
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Spanish · borrowed fromvato
  2. English todayvato

From Spanish vato, ultimately from chivato. Term is mostly used by people from northwest Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua, Baja California).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.