Chichimeca
/ˌtʃitʃiˈmeka/noun
A member of several Indigenous peoples of northern and central Mexico, especially in historical Nahua usage.
Did you know?In Nahuatl sources, Chichimeca was often used as an outsider term by the Mexica and other Nahua peoples, but some groups later embraced it as a proud ancestral identity.
Etymological Timeline
Pre-Columbian
Nahuatl
Chichimeca
“A collective name used for northern peoples seen as outsiders or seminomadic hunters by central Mexican states”
16th Century
Spanish
chichimeca
“A colonial Spanish rendering of the Nahuatl ethnonym and outsider label”
Colonial Era
Spanish
chichimecas
“Used broadly for various Indigenous groups of northern New Spain, often pejoratively”
Modern English
English
Chichimeca
“A historical ethnonym for Indigenous peoples of Mexico, especially in ethnographic or historical contexts”