pocho

P3O1C3H4O1

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.

Scrabble 12

Meanings

nounpocho (countable and uncountable, plural pochos)

plural pochos

  1. countablederogatoryinformaloftenuncountableA 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.

    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.

    2012, Earl Shorris, Latinos: A Biography of the People, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 170
    1 more example

    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).

    2010, Chad Richardson, Batos, Bolillos, Pochos, and Pelados: Class and Culture on the South Texas Border, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 11
  2. informaluncountableSpanglish

    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.”

    2000, Mario T. García, Luis Leal: An Auto/Biography, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 106
    1 more example

    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 […]

    1986, Mexico, Little Brown & Company, →ISBN

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Mexican Spanishpocho
  2. Englishpocho

Borrowed from Mexican Spanish pocho (literally “discolored, faded”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Spanish pocho
  • pochoMexican-American assimilated into mainstream American culture

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

pocho. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pocho

MLA

“pocho.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pocho. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pocho,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pocho.

Source: pocho on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.