barrios

< /ˈbɑr iˌoʊz, ˈbær-; Spanish ˈbɑr ryɔs/.

1. (in Spain and countries colonized by Spain) one of the divisions into which a town or city, together with the contiguous rural territory, is divided.
2. a part of a large U.S. city, especially a crowded inner-city area, inhabited chiefly by a Spanish-speaking population.

noun plural -rios

1. a Spanish-speaking quarter in a town or city, esp in the US
2. a Spanish-speaking community

n.

1841, “ward of a Spanish or Spanish-speaking city,” sometimes also used of rural settlements, from Spanish barrio “district, suburb,” from Arabic barriya “open country” (fem.), from barr “outside” (of the city). Main modern sense of “Spanish-speaking district in a U.S. city” is 1939; original reference is to Spanish Harlem in New York City.