Llanito

[yah-nee-toh, jah-nee-toh]

noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Gibraltar.

2. Also Yanito a dialect of Andalusian Spanish spoken in Gibraltar that is heavily influenced by English, and also contains vocabulary from Genoese, Hebrew, Maltese, and Portuguese.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Llanito¹

First recorded in 1995–2000; of uncertain origin; possibly from Spanish: literally, “person of the flatlands” (from llano “even, flat,” also “flatland, plain”); possibly from Italian dialect (Genoese) slang Gianito “Johnny” (the Genoese constituted about one-third of the population of Gibraltar in the late 18th century)

Example Sentences

English is the official language, but people also speak Spanish, often switching between the two in a form of code switching they call Llanito.

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In fact, what is most commonly heard in the street is Llanito - a local dialect that is primarily Spanish but with unique phrasings, spoken in an accent that can only be described as Gibraltarian.

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Voters who have habitually voted at the San Lucas Institute in the middle-class neighborhood of El Llanito here were transported by opposition-supplied buses throughout the day to a voting station in a working-class neighborhood, Barrio La Unión.

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The opposition candidate for governor of Miranda, Carlos Ocariz, was among them: He, too, used to vote at the school in El Llanito but was being forced to vote on Sunday in Barrio La Unión.

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