Why are there so many Mexican words beginning with “Ch”? “Chela,” “apapachar,” “pachanga,” “carcacha”: if there’s one thing that foreigners visiting Mexico notice about the way we speak, it’s our love for the “ch” sound. The prevalence of “ch” in the way we talk has been paid tribute to in song, by the likes of Café Tacuba’s “Chilango banda.” Even visitors from other Spanish-speaking countries are struck by this feature of Mexican Spanish, which appears in endless words and phrases.
In written Spanish, “ch” is a digraph: a pair of characters used to write a phoneme, or distinct sound. From 1803 and up through 2010, this digraph was actually considered the fourth letter of the Spanish alphabet by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). The origins of the use of this letter in Romance languages can be traced back to ancient transcriptions of Greek texts into Latin. The sound represented by the letter “X” did not exist, so scribes began writing it as “ch.” This practice continued into the Middle Ages and was eventually incorporated into Old French.
In Mexico, the country with the largest number of Spanish speakers in the world, the extensive use of “ch” is a result of the blending of two cultures. “This sound has its origin in Latin, but in Mexican Spanish, it has been reinforced with words from indigenous languages,” explains Concepción Company, a philologist emeritus at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and a member of the Colegio Nacional.
That’s all well and good. But there are almost 500 million Spanish speakers in the world. Why does “ch” appear so much in Mexico?
The ancient Mesoamerican roots of “ch”
While the “ch” sound was already present in medieval Spanish, the prevalence of this phoneme in Mexico has everything to do with the Indigenous languages that were spoken here at the time of colonization. “Ch” is especially prevalent in Nahuatl, still the most widely spoken Indigenous language in Mexico. “Ch” is also present in the Mayan languages, which millions of people speak across Mesoamerica; the most-spoken variety in Mexico is Yucatec Mayan, spoken by about 800,000.
Many of the words these languages gave Spanish describe beings and objects that the Spanish had never encountered before arriving in Mexico, like the Nahuatl “chocolate,” “chile” and “chinampa.” They also describe people, like the “chamaco,” or child, which comes from Yucatec Mayan’s “chaan” and “maák”: small person.
This pattern is not exclusive to the Mayan or Nahuatl languages and is found in Indigenous languages like Zapotec too.
Some classic words with “ch” that you should learn
“Ch” is ubiquitous, and it even sounds fun. Mexicans know how to play with its phonetics. If you are in Mexico, even on vacation, you’ll be well served by getting familiar with some of the many words in Mexican Spanish that use “ch”:
Chido: Cool.
Chingada: A faraway place where no one wants to go. So, if someone tells you: “Vete a la chingada”, they don’t necessarily wish you well.
Chingón: means something or someone admirable.
Chingo: A lot.
Chingar: To bother or screw someone over.
Chingadera: Something useless.
Chale: An expression of disappointment.
Chole: An expression of being fed up.
Chafa: Something of low quality.
Chela: Beer.
Chupe: A drink, usually alcoholic.
Vocho: A popular name for the Volkswagen Beetle.
Chiviar: To make someone feel embarrassed.
Chucherías: Knick knacks or tchotchkes.
Chamba: A job.
Cuchichear: talk to someone in a whisper.
Chota: The police.
Pachanga: Party.
Carcacha: An old car in bad condition; a jalopy.
Which Mexican word with “ch” would you add?
Ana Paula de la Torre is a Mexican journalist and collaborator for various outlets including Milenio, Animal Político, Vice, Newsweek en Español, Televisa and Mexico News Daily.
