''Che'' (; ; pt, tchê ; ca-valencia, xe ) is an interjection commonly used in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay,

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, , ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative_units_of_Brazil#List, fifth-most-populous state and the List of Brazilian st ...

( Brazil) and Valencia ( Spain), signifying " hey!", "fellow", "guy". ''Che'' is mainly used as a vocative to call someone's attention (akin to "mate" or "buddy" in English), but it is often used as filler too (akin to "right" or "so" in English). The Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara earned his nickname from his frequent use of the expression, which was perceived as foreign by his Cuban comrades.

Etymology

is an interjection of unclear origin. According to the , it is comparable to the archaic used in Spain to ask for someone's attention or to make someone stop. is now mainly used in Argentina and Uruguay, but is also predominant in Bolivia, Paraguay, the "Rio Grande do Sul" region of Brazil, and also in Valencia, Spain with a similar meaning. Due to its spread in South America, alternative etymologies have been suggested by analogy with indigenous words: *In Tupi-Guarani, spoken by certain ethnic groups from Argentina to Brazil, means simply "I" or "my." *In the native Araucanian and Chonan language families of the Southern Cone, means "man" or "people" and is often used as a suffix for

ethnonyms An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and ...

in these languages (such as

Mapuche The Mapuche ( (Mapuche & Spanish: )) are a group of indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging ethnicity composed of various groups who s ...

Huilliche The Huilliche , Huiliche or Huilliche-Mapuche are the southern partiality of the Mapuche macroethnic group of Chile. Located in the Zona Sur, they inhabit both Futahuillimapu ("great land of the south") and, as the Cunco subgroup, the north h ...

, Tehuelche, and

Puelche Puelche or Puelches may refer to: *Puelche people, an indigenous people of Argentina and Chile *Puelche language, spoken by the Puelche people * Puelche (wind), a dry wind of Chile *Puelches, La Pampa Puelches is a village and rural locality (munic ...

). * In

Kimbundu Kimbundu, a Bantu language which has sometimes been called Mbundu or 'North Mbundu' (see Umbundu), is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola. Its speakers are concentrated in the north-west of the country, notably in the Lua ...

, spoken by Congolese slaves during colonial times, means " hey!", an interjection for calling someone.

Usage

The first recorded use of in Spanish America appears to be in 19th-century Argentine writer Esteban Echeverría's short story "

The Slaughter Yard The Slaughter Yard (Spanish ''El matadero'', title often imprecisely translated as ''The Slaughterhouse''The Spanish word ''matadero'' does not necessarily imply a building. In 19th century Buenos Aires cattle were frequently killed in open air y ...

" (""), published posthumously in 1871 but set in 1838–1839 in the Rosas era.

("Hey, you black witch, get out of here before I gash you," said the butcher.)

Falkland Islands

In the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubou ...

, is commonly used by

English speakers English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

(""). It can also be written as "". The word is sometimes used to describe someone who is a particularly traditional Falkland Islander ("").

Valencia

In Spain, is widely used in Valencia and

Terres de l'Ebre Terres de l'Ebre (, literally in English 'The Ebre Lands') is one of the seven territories defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It is located in the south-west of Catalonia, in the southern part of river Ebre, and will be formed by four co ...

Catalonia Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

(written as ), as an interjection. With the spelling "" in

Valencian Valencian () or Valencian language () is the official, historical and traditional name used in the Valencian Community (Spain), and unofficially in the Carche, El Carche comarca in Región de Murcia, Murcia (Spain), to refer to the Romance lan ...

, its main use is to express protest, surprise or exasperation. is one of the symbols of the Valencian identity to the point where, for example the

Valencia CF Valencia Club de Fútbol (, ca-valencia, València Club de Futbol ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF (or simply Valencia) is a professional football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top flight of the S ...

is often referred to with the nickname "Xe Team".

Philippines

In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, (also spelled ) is used to express the dismissing another person or interrupting another person's speech, similar in context to the English expression "Shut up!".

References

External links

{{wiktionary, che#Spanish Che Guevara Languages of Argentina Spanish slang