cholo

American  

[choh-loh] / ˈtʃoʊ loʊ /

noun

Chiefly Southwestern U.S.

• cholos
  plural

1. (especially among Mexican Americans) a teenage boy who is a member of a street gang.

2. Usually Disparaging. a term used to refer to a Mexican or Mexican American.

3. a mestizo of Spanish America.

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Sensitivity

When used of a Mexican or Mexican American, the term cholo usually refers disparagingly to an immigrant who is considered to be low-class and poorly educated. However, cholo is also a term of self-reference used by Mexican American youths.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• cholos
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of cholo

First recorded in 1850–55; from Mexican Spanish: “mestizo, peasant,” possibly a shortening of Cholollán (from Nahuatl Cholōllān, modern Cholula ), a city-state in pre-Columbian Mexico

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cholo cholos

For instance, take this clip, in which the trio take on cholo characters and reimagine what it would be like to surf on the Southern California shore.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2026

“People are expecting the cholo aesthetic,” says Escareño.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2022

For “Made in L.A.,” for example, Ayala focused on the underground magazine, “Teen Angels,” which documented cholo street culture in the late 20th century, featuring artworks, photographs and essays by gang-affiliated or incarcerated Chicanos.

From New York Times ● May 17, 2022

Luz ties Ecatepec’s hip-hop culture to the cholo culture popularised by Mexican-Americans in early-90s California, Cypress Hill among them.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 22, 2016

A man of that indiscriminate mixture of Spaniard and Indian known in California as cholo swept the circle of men with an alert and knowing glance.

From The Valley of the Giants by Peter B. (Peter Bernard) Kyne

Her cholos get to be as unpredictable as the rest of us.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026

You can track the evolution of these shapes back to the 1940s and ’50s pachuco down to the cholos of the present day.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 12, 2023

Caló is a language that cholos use here that’s derivative of Spanish, English and sometimes even Nahuatl used by some nations in Mexico.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2022

Calo is a language that cholos use here that’s derivative of Spanish, English and sometimes even Nahuatl used by some nations in Mexico.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 17, 2022

Those guys were the most loved cholos of the barrio.

From "The Freedom Writers Diary" by The Freedom Writers

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