Chamorro

noun

Cha·​mor·​ro chə-ˈmȯr-(ˌ)ō 

plural Chamorro or Chamorros

1

: a member of a people of the Mariana Islands

2

: the language of the Chamorro people

Examples of Chamorro in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Nicaragua’s under-employment, currently at about 45% of the population, would jump to 55% if the country is suspended from the free trade agreement, Chamorro estimates. —Andres Oppenheimer, Miami Herald, 18 Feb. 2025

Judging by the frenzy that had 19-year-old sales clerk Oswaldo Chamorro hopping on a busy Friday afternoon at the store, plenty of people still browse and buy Austin Burke merch. —Howard Cohen, Miami Herald, 13 Jan. 2025

Online platforms and forums create a sense of detachment that reduces empathy and isolates people from the real human impact of their words, explains Dr. Chamorro. —Libby Ryan, Parents, 20 Dec. 2024

By Roberta Brzezinski & Dane Chamorro Rarely have contenders for a US presidential election offered such contrasting economic visions. —Control Risks, Forbes, 4 Nov. 2024

Throughout the year, there are also several opportunities to catch local Chamorro fiestas and live music performances that show off the mix of American, Chamorro, Filipino, and other Asian influence that is quintessentially Guam. —Kat Chen, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Oct. 2024

The roving camera seems to hunt Blanchett through her character’s London townhouse and hip industrial office space, both impeccably rendered in contrast with Stephen’s dowdy row house by production designer Neil Lamont and set decorator Pancho Chamorro. —Alison Herman, Variety, 11 Oct. 2024

Juan Sebastián Chamorro, a Nicaraguan opposition politician and prospective presidential candidate, was accused of treason, arrested and banished simply for running as an opposition candidate by the regime of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President Rosario Murillo (who is also first lady). —Cecilia Menjívar, Scientific American, 23 Sep. 2024

Serge Armstrong’s velvety cinematography and Pamela Chamorro’s elaborate art design are very much of a piece with classic period films, with a color palette and a level of set detail that never fail to remind us that this is a portrait of very history itself. —Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline, 23 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Spanish chamorro, probably borrowed from Chamorro chamorri "member of the highest social class in precolonial Chamorro society"

Note: The history of this word is still in need of complete elucidation. The earliest record of the language of the Mariana Islands was made by Estevan Rodríguez, a pilot on one of the ships commanded by Miguel López de Legazpi that, after touching on Guam, began colonization of the Philippines in 1565. Rodríguez listed 67 Chamorro words with their Spanish meaning (see Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista y organización de las antiguas posesiones españolas de ultramar, 2. serie, tomo 2:1, De las Islas Filipinas [Madrid, 1886], pp. 392-93; and Rafael Rodríguez-Ponga, "El primer vocabulario de la lengua de las Islas Marianas," Archivo Augustiniano, vol. 95, no. 213 [2011], pp. 445-60). The pilot Rodríguez records chamor with the meaning "friend" (amigo), and earlier relates an encounter with a group of men who attempted to board their craft "dichiendo: chamurre, chamurre, que quiere decir: amigos, amigos; y trayendo la mano por al barriga que es señal de amistad" ("saying 'chamurre, chamurre,' that is to say, 'friends, friends,' and bringing the hand over the stomach, which is a sign of friendship"). It was apparently this word that was used in the name "Islas de los Chamurres o Ladrones" ("Islands of the Chamurres or Thieves"), which is recorded in another document of the Legazpi expedition for the islands later renamed Marianas (see Colección de documentos inéditos … tomo 3:2, p. 227). A century later a nearly homonymous word chamorri is recorded, but with a different sense; in a chronicle of the Jesuit mission to the Mariana Islands in 1669-70, the chamorris are the highest social class among the Indigenous inhabitants: "No se casará uno de los Principales, llamados Chamorris, con la hija de un Pleveyo, aunque este sea muy rico, y el muy pobre, y necesitado … y antiguamente matauan los parientes al Noble, que se casaua con la hija de un Pleveyo." ("One of the highest class, called by them Chamorris, will not marry the daughter of a plebeian, be her father ever so rich and he ever so poor and needy … and formerly the noble who married the daughter of a plebeian was killed by his relatives," from an anonymous pamphlet Noticia de los Progressos de nuestra Santa Fe, en las Islas Marianas … desde de 15. de Mayo de 1669, hasta 28 de Abril de 1670, sacada de las cartas, que ha escrito el Padre Diego Luis de Sanvitores, y sus Compañeros [place and date of printing unknown], p. 4; see Mission in the Marianas: An Account of Father Diego Luis de Sanvítores and His Companions, 1669-1670, translated by Ward Barrett [Minneapolis, 1975], p. 22.) It seems improbable that the Chamurres "amigos" of the 1565 encounter could have been a misunderstanding of the Chamorris "principales" of the Jesuit narrative, though it is equally improbable that the two words are unrelated. Muddying the picture further is a Spanish word chamorro "having closely cropped hair," which may in some way have contributed to the acceptance of chamorro as the name for a people.

First Known Use

1847, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for Chamorro

• saguaro
• loro
• thoro
• toro

Biographical Definition

Chamorro

biographical name

Cha·​mor·​ro chä-ˈmȯr-rō 

Violeta Barrios de 1929–     president of Nicaragua (1990–97)