vato

From Spanish vato, ultimately from chivato. Term is mostly used by people from northwest Mexico (Sinaloa, Sonora, Chihuahua, Baja California).

vato (plural vatos)

1. (Chicano, slang) Hispanic youth; guy; dude

• IPA^(key): [ˈvato]
• Rhymes: -ato
• Hyphenation: va‧to

Borrowed from French ouate and German Watte. Compare Polish wata (“cotton wool”), Russian вата (vata, “cotton wool, glass wool, drugstore cotton”), Italian ovatto (“cotton wool, wadding”), English wad (“amorphous mass”).

vato (accusative singular vaton, plural vatoj, accusative plural vatojn)

1. cotton wool

Borrowed from English watt, named after Scottish engineer James Watt. Compare Italian, Portuguese, and French watt, German Watt, Yiddish וואַט (vat), Polish wat, Russian ватт (vatt).

vato (accusative singular vaton, plural vatoj, accusative plural vatojn)

1. watt

   Synonyms: ŭato, vatto

• jotavato
• kilovato

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *batu, from Proto-Austronesian *batu (compare Cebuano bato, Fijian vatu, Hawaiian haku, Hiligaynon bato, Ilocano bato, Indonesian batu, Kapampangan batu, Malay batu, Maori whatu, Sundanese batu, Tagalog bato).

vato

1. rock, stone, cobble

vato

1. nominative singular of vata (“religious duty”)

• bato, jato

According to the Chicano poet Luis Alberto Urrea, the word originated in Pachuco slang of the 1940s, and is derived from "the once-common friendly insult chivato or goat."[1]

• IPA^(key): /ˈbato/ [ˈba.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -ato
• Syllabification: va‧to

vato m (plural vatos, feminine vata, feminine plural vatas)

1. (Chicano, slang) Male Hispanic youth; guy; dude; boyfriend; significant other

• This term may be used with intimate friends or as a derogatory reference. In some contexts, the term has gang connotations. The feminine form, vata, is also used by Chicano prostitutes to refer to a woman who owes them money.

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *batu, from Proto-Austronesian *batu.

vato

1. stone