barrio

American  

[bahr-ee-oh, bar-, bahr-ryaw] / ˈbɑr iˌoʊ, ˈbær-, ˈbɑr rjɔ /

noun

• barrios
  plural

1. (in Spain and countries colonized by Spain) one of the divisions into which a town or city, together with the contiguous rural territory, is divided.

2. a part of a large U.S. city, especially a crowded inner-city area, inhabited chiefly by a Spanish-speaking population.

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barrio British  

/ ˈbarrjo, ˈbærɪəʊ /

noun

1. a Spanish-speaking quarter in a town or city, esp in the US

2. a Spanish-speaking community

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• barrios
  plural

Etymology

Origin of barrio

First recorded in 1890–95; from Spanish: literally, “district, neighborhood,” from Arabic barrī “of open country” (equivalent to barr “outside, open country” + -i adjective suffix) + -o Spanish noun suffix

Explanation

In the U.S., a barrio is the neighborhood where most people speak Spanish. For example, in New York, Spanish Harlem is also called El Barrio. Outside the U.S., barrio refers to a district in Spain or a Spanish-speaking country. The word barrio means "neighborhood" in Spanish, and in most Spanish-speaking places, that's exactly what it means. In Cuba and Spain, barrios are official divisions of municipalities. But in New York, Los Angeles, Tucson, Miami, and other U.S. cities, a barrio isn’t an official district, it’s just the neighborhood where Spanish speakers settled and/or still live.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

barrio barrios

Here’s where the band generates a fascinating juxtaposition: part of “Escrito en Agua” is recorded in a lo-fi style, with rough-around-the-edges moments — like the kind of teen barrio band that you feel protective of.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

In that same barrio, Flores raised three children with her first husband, Walter Gavidia, a police detective.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

It was a tough start though as he left his family's home in a barrio in Colombia's second-largest city Medellin to pursue that dream.

From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2024

She also made attempts to pass herself and her children off as Spanish or French as they moved from barrio to barrio, living what Mr. Belafonte would call an “underground life.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 25, 2023

She lived down the road from us, past Doña Lola’s house, almost at the funnel end of the barrio.

From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago

The cumbia and vallenato that blare from the speakers in the barrios of Barranquilla or Medellín can also be heard in the streets of La Indepe.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2023

“They are never going to return to the communities, the neighborhoods, the barrios, the cities of our beloved El Salvador,” Villatoro said.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 15, 2023

She said she lives by a creed, one that many in similar barrios do: “No nos metemos para nada.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2023

They are the champions of the barrios, the favelas, the slums.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 18, 2022

In 1990, Peralta was in the vanguard of Mexican immigrants who bypassed the traditional barrios in border states to work in far-flung cities like Denver and New York.

From "Class Matters" by The New York Times

Related Words

• part
• place
• point
• region
• sector