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How can I say the demonym of "Chaco"? In Spanish it is "chaqueño", but I don't know what the correct word is in English.

Laurel
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walter
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    I never heard of *Chaco* (do you mean a province in the northeastern part of Argentina?). But most likely native Anglophones would just say [people] who live in* [placename]* for unusual placenames that don't have a well-established form. You could try *Chacoan* or *Chacoean/Chacoian, but bear in mind it would effectively be a one-off coinage that might* not be understood without crystal-clear context. – FumbleFingers May 20 '18 at 13:57
  • @FumbleFingers Good advice. – Centaurus May 20 '18 at 14:27
  • Thank you, I believe that both options can be useful. I need to use it for a Phytogeographical province. So the term could be "Chacoan province" or "the province of Chaco" – walter May 20 '18 at 14:31
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    I'd strongly recommend you not to get too attached to the idea of finding / inventing demonyms for a "phytogeographical" context. Botanical regional speciation doesn't meaningfully relate to human settlement areas, so there's little chance you could always find a passable demonym for every area you might need to reference. As the relevant Wikipedia page says, Some places may not have a word for the people that live there. – FumbleFingers May 20 '18 at 14:39
  • Thanks again. Then, the best option is "the province of Chaco" – walter May 20 '18 at 14:43
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    You still haven't clarified which 'Chaco' you're speaking about. Unless you specify the Chaco culture of the US SW, I won't bother checking my guidebooks. / You also need to tell us where you've already checked (eg Wikipedia). – Edwin Ashworth May 20 '18 at 15:10

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English doesn't have demonyms to nearly the same extent as Spanish does. Most of what we have is for countries and cities famous in the Anglophone world. Generally we would say something like people/a person/somebody from Chaco or the/an inhabitant(s)/citizen(s) of Chaco.

Especially since Chaco is not a country, but one region in some non-English-speaking country, there is no reason for most English speakers to have a demonym for it, and we don't. Most English is phrases, not single words.

John Lawler
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The only use of Chacoan I was able to find was in the English name of the charming little creature Cabassous chacoensis (Cabasú Chaqueño), the Chacoan naked-tailed armadillo, shown above. If in your writing you mention the Gran Chaco region several times, then use the word Chacoan, it will be understood as a demonym. Unless your English readers have a special thing for South American armadillos, however, it will not be a word they will likely have seen before.

KarlG
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