Mexican

From Spanish mexicano, from Nahuatl mēxihcah plural of mēxihcatl (“a Mexica”) + -ano (“-an”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛksɪk(ə)n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmɛksək(ə)n/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Mex‧ic‧an

Mexican (plural Mexicans)

1. (obsolete) A Mexica; an Aztec.
   • 1660, Joseph Hall, The Shaking of the Olive-Tree, page 260:

     Surely, nature it ſelf calls to us for this reſpect to a deity, even the very ſavage Indians may teach us this point of religion; amongſt whom we find the Mexicans, a people that had never had any intercourſe with the other three parts of the World, Eminent in this kinde; what ſumptuous, and ſtately Temples had they erected to their Devils: How did they enrich their miſ-called Gods with Magazins of their treaſure?

   • 1677, Richard Gilpin, Daemonologia Sacra, or, a Treatise of Satans Temptations, pages 255–256:

     Not unlike to this were thoſe morſels of Paſte, which the Mexicans uſed in their Religious Feaſts, which they laid at their Idols Feet, conſecrating them by Singing and other Ceremonies, and then they called them the Fleſh and Bones of their God Vitziliputzli

   • 1782, review of Storia antica del Messico, in The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature, vol. 54, p. 144

     The Aztecheſe, or Mexicans, were the laſt who arrived in Anahuac.

2. (obsolete) The Nahuatl language.
   • 1856, Arthur Helps, The Spanish Conquest in America, volume 2, page 239:

     Painala was in the Mexican province of Coatzacualco: she was accordingly able to speak Mexican.

3. A person from the country of Mexico or of Mexican descent.
   • 2011 October 15, Phil McNulty, “Liverpool 1 - 1 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport‎:

     The Mexican levelled nine minutes from time after Steven Gerrard, making his first start since undergoing groin surgery in April, put Liverpool ahead with a 68th-minute free-kick.

4. The Mexican dialect of Spanish.
   • 1970, Stan Steiner, La raza: the Mexican Americans, page 224:

     "You see, I never learned to speak Spanish, but speak Mexican fluently," he says disarmingly.

   • 1998, Richard Montoya, Ricardo Salinas, Herbert Siguenza, Culture Clash: Life, Death, and Revolutionary Comedy, page 23:

     You really scare me when you speak Mexican.

   • 2000, Ben K. Green, The Village Horse Doctor: West of the Pecos, page 87:

     I didn't speak much Mexican, but I savvied a lot more than I could speak and picked the word banditos out of their conversation.

   • 2014, David Ayer, Fury, Columbia Pictures:

     DON COLLIER: Hey, you want to talk Mexican, join another tank, a Mexican tank.

5. (US, slang, offensive) A person from, or of descent from, any Spanish-speaking country.
   • 2019, Claire Atkinson, “Fox News apologizes for graphic about '3 Mexican countries'”, in NBC News‎:

     Fox News issued an apology on Sunday for an on-screen graphic that mistakenly indicated President Donald Trump was reducing aid to "three Mexican countries."

   What kind of Mexican are you?

6. (Australia, slang, chiefly New South Wales, Queensland) A Victorian (a person from the state of Victoria).
7. (Australia, slang, Queensland) A person from either of the southern states of New South Wales and Victoria.
8. (uncountable) Mexican or Mexican-derived cuisine; whether traditional Mexican food or Tex-Mex, etc.

   I'm hungry, want to go out for Mexican?

• (Mexica): Mexica, Aztec, el goblino, la goblina
• (language): Nahuatl, Aztec

Mexican (comparative more Mexican, superlative most Mexican)

1. (obsolete) Of or pertaining to the Mexica people.
2. (obsolete) Of or pertaining to the Nahuatl language.
   • 1795, W. Winterbotham, An Historical, Geographical, Commercial, and Philosophical View of the American United States, volume 4, page 87:

     The principal grain of Mexico, before the introduction of thoſe from Europe, was maize, in the Mexican language called tluolli, of which there were ſeveral kinds, different in ſize, weight, colour, and taſte.

   • 1810, review of "Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain", in The Eclectic Review

     The language most universally diffused over the new continent, is the Aztec or Mexican.

3. Of, from, or pertaining to the country of Mexico.

• (people): Mexica, Aztec
• (language): Nahuatl, Aztec