hombre

English

WOTD – 16 September 2017

Etymology

A sombrero-wearing mariachi singer in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Borrowed from Spanish hombre (“man; human being”), from Old Spanish omne, from Latin hominem, accusative of homō (“a human being, a person”), from Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Italic *hemō (“man”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”), from *dʰéǵʰōm (“earth”). Doublet of gome, homo, ombre, and omi.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɒmbɹeɪ/, /-bɹi/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑmbɹeɪ/, /ˈʌmbɹeɪ/, /-bɹi/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Received Pronunciation) -ɒmbɹeɪ
• Hyphenation: hom‧bre

Noun

hombre (plural hombres)

1. (chiefly US, in Spanish-speaking contexts, slang) A man, a chap, a guy; especially a Hispanic or Spanish man.
   • c. 1850, [Thomas] Mayne Reid, “A Group of Jarochos”, in The Guerilla Chief, and Other Tales, London: C. H. Clarke, 13, Paternoster Row, →OCLC, page 62:

     [W]e're glad to learn that the Yankee bullet has not quite stopped your breath. You're all right, hombre!

   • 1852 March 8, E. P., “Golden Correspondence.—No. 1”, in J[oseph] M. Church, editor, Church’s Bizarre. For Fireside and Wayside, volume I, number 1 (New Series), Philadelphia, Pa.: Church & Co., 140 Chestnut Street, published 17 April 1852, →OCLC, page 9, column 2:

     That hombre now with the worn out hat, tattered shirt, and fragmentary breeches, wears a sword. Bless you, his dignity would suffer greatly without it!

   • 2010, Jon Sharpe [pseudonym], chapter 1, in Rocky Mountain Revenge (The Trailsman; no. 342), New York, N.Y.: Signet Books, New American Library, →ISBN:

     The foreman. As tough an hombre who ever lived. If Mr. Bell had sent Jackson instead of me, he'd take your rifle and beat you half to death with it.

   • 2016, Lawrence Winkler, “Bajada”, in Orion’s Cartwheel (Cartwheels Quadrilogy; 1), Victoria, B.C.: First Choice Books, →ISBN, page 22:

     There was a pause I didn't like, punctuated by shrieks of shrill laughter from the hombres at the bar. Only Mexicans can laugh like that.

Further reading

• hombre on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Aragonese

Alternative forms

• home

Etymology

From Navarro-Aragonese hombre~home, from Latin hominem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈombɾe/
• Rhymes: -ombɾe
• Syllabification: hom‧bre

Noun

hombre m (plural hombres)

1. man
2. a 17th-century Spanish card game (c. 1650-1660), usually played by three persons with a pack of 40 cards.

   the lone player in this game undertaking to win the pool against two defenders.

References

• “hombre”, in Aragonario, diccionario castellano–aragonés (in Spanish)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɔ̃bʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophones: hombres, ombre, ombres, ombrent

Noun

hombre m (plural hombres)

1. a kind of card game from Spain

Descendants

• → English: ombre

Further reading

• “hombre”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Navarro-Aragonese

Alternative forms

• ombre, ome, omme, homme
• uamne (11th century, Glosas Emilianenses)

Etymology

Inherited from Latin hominem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈombɾe/

Noun

hombre m (plural hombres)

1. man
   • 14th c., Crónica de San Juan de la Peña:

     SEGVNT QVE HAVE / mos leydo en muytos liuros el primʳo hombŕ q̀ se poblo / en España hauia nombre Tubal, del qual yxio la ge- / na͡con d'los ybers.

     As we have read in many books, the first man to settle in Spain was named Tubal, from whom issued the race of the Iberians.

Descendants

• Aragonese: ombre

Further reading

• Nagore Laín, Francho (2021) Vocabulario de la crónica de San Juan de la Peña (versión aragonesa, s. XIV), Zaragoza: Prensas de la Universidad de Zaragoza, page 268

Spanish

Alternative forms

• honbre, ombre, onbre (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish omne, from Latin hominem, homō, from Old Latin hemō, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“earthling”). The Old Spanish form omne was first dissimilated to omre and then a gliding sound -b- arose before the -r-. Compare the same development in hambre and nombre.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈombɾe/ [ˈõm.bɾe]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ombɾe
• Syllabification: hom‧bre

Noun

hombre m (plural hombres)

1. man, (adult male human)

   Synonyms: caballero, señor

   Antonym: mujer

   Sé (un) hombre! ― Man up!

2. man, (all humans collectively); mankind, humankind

   Synonym: ser humano

3. (anthropology, archaeology, paleontology) man, (individual of the species Homo sapiens, the genus Homo, or the subtribe Hominina)

   Synonyms: humano, persona

4. (colloquial) husband

   Synonym: marido

5. (gay slang) top

   Synonym: activo

6. ombre (Spanish card game)

Derived terms

• abominable hombre de las nieves
• buen hombre
• como un solo hombre
• cuerpo de hombre
• de hombre a hombre
• Hijo del Hombre
• hombre al agua
• hombre bueno
• hombre cis
• hombre con hombre
• hombre de armas
• hombre de barba
• hombre de Cromañón
• hombre de Dios
• hombre de guerra
• hombre de jengibre
• hombre de la bolsa
• hombre de la calle
• hombre de letras
• hombre de Neandertal
• hombre de negocios
• hombre de paja
• hombre de pelo en pecho
• hombre de punto
• hombre del mundo
• hombre del tiempo
• hombre gamba
• hombre lobo
• hombre muerto
• hombre orquesta
• hombre prevenido vale por dos
• hombre rana
• hombre trans
• hombredad
• hombría
• juego del hombre
• manos besa el hombre, que querría ver cortadas
• matahombres
• pobre hombre
• por cuerpo de hombre

 

Related terms

• prohombre

 

Descendants

• Chavacano: hombre
• → English: hombre
• → French: hombre
  • → English: ombre
• → Papiamentu: hòmber

Interjection

¡hombre!

1. man!
2. hey!
3. oh, come on!

Further reading

• “hombre”, 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