pitiyanqui

Spanish

Etymology

From French petit (“small”) +‎ yanqui (“Yankee; American”), popularized in Puerto Rico in the 1940s and 50s, and in the late aughts in Venezuela by Hugo Chávez. According to Puerto Rican lexicographer Augusto Malaret, it was coined by poet Luis Lloréns Torres as early as 1917.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /pitiˈʝanki/ [pi.t̪iˈʝãŋ.ki]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /pitiˈʝanki/ [pi.t̪iˈʝãŋ.ki]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /pitiˈʃanki/ [pi.t̪iˈʃãŋ.ki]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /pitiˈʒanki/ [pi.t̪iˈʒãŋ.ki]

• Rhymes: -anki
• Syllabification: pi‧ti‧yan‧qui

Noun

pitiyanqui m or f by sense (plural pitiyanquis)

1. (Puerto Rico, Venezuela, derogatory) someone who supports United States interventionism and imitates the culture of the United States
   • 1964, Cesáreo Rosa-Nieves, Mañana será la esperanza, page 78:

     […] se jacta en afirmar: —Yo me siento más norteamericano que el presidente de Estados Unidos. ¶ Willie Santana es el perfecto pitiyanqui, disfrazado de boricua.

     […] he brags when he declares: "I feel more American than the president of the United States." ¶ Willie Santana is the perfect pitiyanqui, disguised as a Puerto Rican.

   • 2012, Dr. Guillermo González, De Cobitos, Jaibas y Lambe Ojos: Sobre la Personalidad Colonizada en Puerto Rico, →ISBN, page 102:

     Con su obstruccionismo lo que hacen es perpetuar la colonia, protegen los intereses de las compañías norteamericanas en Puerto Rico y continúan haciendo de Puerto Rico una posesión de los Estados Unidos; estos son los verdaderos pitiyanquis.

     With their obstructionism, what they do is perpetuate the colony, protect the interests of United States in Puerto Rico, and continue making Puerto Rico a property of the United States; these are the true pitiyanquis.

Derived terms

• pitiyanquismo

 

Adjective

pitiyanqui m or f (masculine and feminine plural pitiyanquis)

1. (relational) pitiyanquis
   • 2014 December 15, Valentina Lares Martis, “Maduro responde a sanciones de EE. UU. con multitudinaria marcha”, in El Tiempo (Colombia)‎^[1]:

     Maduro volvió a referirse a Aznar después de que el viernes pasado lo acusara de la muerte de más de un millón de iraquíes y hoy lo señaló al comentar que no solamente deben ser juzgados "los amos estadounidenses" sino también sus "súbditos", "sus esclavos pitiyanquis en el mundo".

     Maduro alluded to Aznar again after last Friday he accused him of the death of over a million Iraqis, and today he pointed to him when he commented that not only should the "United States masters" be judged, but also their "subjects", "their pitiyanqui slaves in the world".

Further reading

• “pitiyanqui”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10