
''Che'' (; ; ; ) is an
interjection
An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling, situation or reaction. It is a diverse category, with many different types, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curses (''da ...
commonly used in
Argentina
Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...
,
Uruguay
Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...
,
Bolivia
Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...
,
Paraguay
Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...
,
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
(
São Paulo
São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...
and
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 s ...
) and
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
(
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
), signifying "
hey!", "fellow", "guy". ''Che'' is mainly used as a
vocative
In grammar, the vocative case (abbreviated ) is a grammatical case which is used for a noun that identifies a person (animal, object, etc.) being addressed or occasionally for the noun modifiers (determiners, adjectives, participles, and numeral ...
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 amused his Cuban comrades.
Etymology
is an
interjection
An interjection is a word or expression that occurs as an utterance on its own and expresses a spontaneous feeling, situation or reaction. It is a diverse category, with many different types, such as exclamations ''(ouch!'', ''wow!''), curses (''da ...
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, Uruguay, Bolivia and Paraguay. In Brazil, in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the form ''tchê'' is used, and in the state of São Paulo the form ''ché'' is used.
In Spain, in the Valencia region, the form ''xe'' is used, 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 used ...
in these languages (such as
Mapuche
The Mapuche ( , ) also known as Araucanians are a group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile and southwestern Argentina, including parts of Patagonia. The collective term refers to a wide-ranging e ...
,
Huilliche
The Huilliche (), Huiliche or Huilliche-Mapuche are the southern partiality of the Mapuche macroethnic group in Chile and Argentina. Located in the Zona Sur, they inhabit both Futahuillimapu ("great land of the south") and, as the Cunco or Ve ...
,
Tehuelche, and
Puelche).
* In
Kimbundu
Kimbundu, a Bantu language which has sometimes been called Mbundu or North Mbundu (to distinguish it from Umbundu, sometimes called South Mbundu), is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola.
Its speakers are concentrated in the n ...
, 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'', is a short story by the Argentine poet and essayist Esteban Echeverría (1805–1851). It was the first Argentine work of prose fiction. It ...
" (""), 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 (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, 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 from Cape Dub ...
, is commonly used by
English speakers
English is a West Germanic language that developed in early medieval England and has since become a global lingua franca. The namesake of the language is the Angles, one of the Germanic peoples that migrated to Britain after its Roman o ...
(""). It can also be written as "". The word is sometimes used to describe someone who is a particularly traditional Falkland Islander ("").
Valencia
In
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
, is widely used in
Valencia
Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...
and
Terres de l'Ebre
Terres de l'Ebre (, in English 'Ebro, Ebre Lands') is the south-westernmost of the eight regions (Vegueria, ''vegueries'') defined by the Regional Plan of Catalonia. It has a population of 182,231 as of 2022, placing it second to last in terms of ...
,
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...
(written as ), as an interjection. With the spelling "" in
Valencian Valencian can refer to:
* Something related to the Valencian Community ( Valencian Country) in Spain
* Something related to the city of Valencia
* Something related to the province of Valencia in Spain
* Something related to the old Kingdom of ...
, 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, S. A. D. (; ), commonly referred to as Valencia CF or simply Valencia, is a Spanish professional Association football, football club based in Valencia, Spain, that currently plays in La Liga, the top tier of the Spani ...
is often referred to with the nickname "Xe Team".
Philippines
In the
Philippines
The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...
, (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!".
See also
*
Argot
A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...
*
Cocoliche
Cocoliche is an Italian language, Italian–Spanish language, Spanish Macaronic language, contact language or pidgin that was spoken by Italian settlement in Argentina, Italian immigrants between 1870 and 1970 in Argentina (especially in Gran Bu ...
*
Lunfardo
Lunfardo (; from the Italian ) is an argot originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in the Río de la Plata region (encompassing the port cities of Buenos Aires in Argentina and Montevideo in Uruguay) ...
*
Re (exclamation) – a similar interjection in the
Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...
of identical usage
*
Vesre
Vesre (from Spanish ''(al) revés'' 'reverse') is the reversing of the order of syllables within a word in Spanish. It is a feature of Rioplatense Spanish slang and Tango lyrics, and is associated with lunfardo.
Vesre is mostly from Buenos Air ...
References
External links
{{wiktionary, che#Spanish
Che Guevara
Languages of Argentina
Spanish slang