quillo
Catalan
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish quillo, itself a shortened form of chiquillo, a diminutive of chico (“kid”).
Pronunciation
Noun
quillo m (plural quillos)
- (slang, derogatory) chav, townie/towny
Usage notes
- In Catalan, the meaning shifted from affectionate/vocative to a social stereotype term relationed with Andalusian working-class youth and certain urban subcultures.
Spanish
Etymology
A shortened form of chiquillo, a diminutive of chico (“kid”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈkiʝo/ [ˈki.ʝo] (Equatorial Guinea, most of Latin America and Spain)
- IPA(key): /ˈkiʎo/ [ˈki.ʎo] (Andes Mountains, rustic northern Spain, Paraguay, Philippines)
- IPA(key): /ˈkiʃo/ [ˈki.ʃo] (Buenos Aires and environs)
- IPA(key): /ˈkiʒo/ [ˈki.ʒo] (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)
- Rhymes: -iʝo (Equatorial Guinea, most of Latin America and Spain)
- Rhymes: -iʎo (Andes Mountains, rustic northern Spain, Paraguay, Philippines)
- Rhymes: -iʃo (Buenos Aires and environs)
- Rhymes: -iʒo (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay)
- Syllabification: qui‧llo
Contraction
quillo
- (colloquial, Andalusia, Cádiz) contraction of chiquillo (a term of endearment for a young person); often used as an interjection
Derived terms
Further reading
- “quillo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025