Boricua vs. puertorriqueño (and Borinquén)
Both words mean Puerto Rican. The RAE’s main dictionary defines boricua simply as puertorriqueño. It lists borinqueño, borincano, and portorriqueño as other words with the same meaning [1]. (The RAE is the Royal Spanish Academy, which sets standard Spanish.) None of the dictionaries we checked gives boricua a rude meaning.
| Word | What it means | Forms |
|---|---|---|
| boricua | Puerto Rican (a person or a thing), often said with pride | One form for men and women: el boricua, la boricua |
| puertorriqueño | Puerto Rican, the most neutral word | puertorriqueño for a man, puertorriqueña for a woman |
| Borinquén, Boriquén, Borikén | An old name for the island of Puerto Rico | A place name, not a word for people |
The difference is the feeling, not the meaning. Puertorriqueño is the word you see on official papers. Boricua is the word many Puerto Ricans use to say who they are, in music, on flags, and in the family chat.
Is it OK to say if you’re not Puerto Rican? Yes. Spanish speakers in many countries use it for Puerto Ricans, and it’s common in news and sports. Like any word about where people come from, just use it with respect.
You may also read that the island’s old name, Borikén, means “the great land of the valiant and noble lord.” Dictionary.com gives that translation [3]. It’s a traditional reading, not a proven one. Merriam-Webster notes that Taíno, the language of the island’s native people, is poorly recorded. It also says the scholar Cayetano Coll y Toste got a similar meaning, “lands of the brave lord,” by treating each syllable as a separate word, a method it doesn’t trust [2]. And while the island’s name is old, the form boricua isn’t recorded before the 1800s [2].
Sources
- boricua | Diccionario de la lengua españolaReal Academia Española
- BORICUA Definition & MeaningMerriam-Webster
- BORICUA Definition & MeaningDictionary.com
