A ''grito'' or ''grito mexicano'' (; Spanish for "shout") is a common

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

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 ...

, used as an expression.

Characteristics

This interjection is similar to the ''

yahoo Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, an ...

'' or ''

yeehaw Ya haw or Yee-haw may refer to: *" Yee Haw", a song by Jake Owen *"Yee Haw", a song by The BossHoss * Yeehaw Junction, Florida See also * "Yihaa", a 2025 song by Dolly Style * Rebel yell The rebel yell was a battle cry used by Confederate ...

'' of the American cowboy during a

hoedown A hoedown is a type of American folk dance or square dance in duple meter, and also the musical form associated with it. Overview The most popular sense of the term is associated with Americans in rural or southeastern parts of the country, par ...

, with added

ululation Ululation (, ), trilling or lele, is a long, wavering, high-pitched vocal sound resembling a Howl (sound), howl with a Trill (music), trilling quality. It is produced by emitting a high pitched loud voice accompanied with a rapid back and forth mov ...

trills and

onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetics, phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as Oin ...

closer to "aaah" or "aaaayyyyeeee", that resemble a laugh while performing it. The first sound is typically held as long as possible, leaving enough breath for a trailing set of trills.

Usage

The ''grito'' is sometimes used as part of the official remembrance of the Shout of Dolores, during the celebration of

Mexican Independence Day The Cry of Dolores () occurred in Dolores, Mexico, on 16 September 1810, when Roman Catholic priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla rang his church bell and gave the call to arms that triggered the Mexican War of Independence. The Cry of Dolores is m ...

. The ''el grito mexicano'' has patriotic connotations. It is commonly done immediately prior to the popular Mexican

war cry A battle cry or war cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same combatant group. Battle cries are not necessarily articulate (e.g. "Eulaliaaaa!", "Alala"..), although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religio ...

: "¡Viva Mexico, Señores!" (Long live Mexico, Gentlemen!).

References

Battle cries Culture of Mexico Mexican Spanish Spanish words and phrases Mexican-American culture {{Mexico-culture-stub