What does chico mean?
Chico is an informal English noun borrowed from Spanish, where it literally means 'boy'. In the southwestern United States, particularly regions with deep Mexican-American heritage, it is used to refer to a boy or young man, often with a warm, familiar tone — as in greeting a neighbor's son or recalling one's own youth. Its feminine counterpart is 'chica', so the word inherently marks gender. Separately, in the Philippines, 'chico' names the sapodilla fruit (Manilkara zapota), whose sweet, grainy brown flesh makes it a popular dessert fruit there; this sense entered Filipino English through Spanish colonial influence. Speakers should note that 'chico' remains colloquial in English rather than standard vocabulary, and that its gendered nature limits generic use. The word's double life — as a person in one corner of the English-speaking world and a fruit in another — makes it a small but vivid example of how Spanish has enriched English on two sides of the Pacific.
A boy or young man, used informally especially in the southwestern United States.
"The vaqueros sent a chico to fetch water from the well."
Informal and regionally marked; affectionate rather than neutral in tone.
In the Philippines, the sapodilla fruit (Manilkara zapota), with sweet brown flesh.
"Chico is in season at the market, so we bought a whole bag of them."
Confined mainly to Philippine English.
Standard anglicized plural; in Spanish the plural is also 'chicos'.
"Two chicos ran ahead to open the gate."
'Chico' crossed the border twice — once as Spanish for 'boy' in the American Southwest, and again as the name of the sweet sapodilla fruit Filipinos call chico.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of chico
English 'chico' comes directly from Mexican Spanish chico, meaning 'boy' or 'small'. The further origin of the Spanish word is uncertain, though it has long been associated with the related forms chiquito and chiquita, affectionate diminutives meaning 'little one'. It entered American English through contact in the southwestern United States, where Mexican Spanish vocabulary was absorbed into local speech. A separate borrowing brought the same Spanish word into Philippine English, where it came to denote the sapodilla fruit introduced by the Spanish.
How chico is actually used
In American English, 'chico' is informal and regional, most natural in areas with strong Mexican-Spanish influence; it can sound affectionate or familiar rather than neutral. Because it encodes gender ('chica' being the feminine counterpart), it should not be used generically for any child. The Philippine fruit sense is largely confined to Filipino English.
Easily confused with chico
A chick is a baby bird (or slang for a young woman), whereas chico is a Spanish-derived term for a boy or young man.
Chic means stylishly elegant, while chico refers to a boy or young man despite their similar spellings.