Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Spanish ·1920s
Macho
from macho
- Meaning
- Male — applied to animals before it came to mean a performatively masculine human.
- Source word
- macho
- Route into English
- Spanish *macho* → English via Mexican-American usage in the 1920s. Became pop-culture currency through 1970s US sitcoms and the Village People's "Macho Man" (1978).
- Arrived
- 1920s
From Spanish
American Spanish, not peninsular Spanish, provided most of the modern loanwords — through US expansion westward and Latin American trade.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.