Quinqui

Quinqui jargon is associated with quincalleros (an itinerant group). They are a semi-nomadic people who live mainly in the northern half of Spain. They prefer to be called mercheros. They have declined in number from earlier reports and are possibly vanishing as a distinct ethnic group.

The language is based on Germanía, an old Spanish criminal argot. It has elements of Caló, a dialect of the Spanish Roma, and Erromintxela, a mixed Basque–Kalderash Romani language.

The term comes from the word quincallería (ironmongery), from ironmongers who first used this cant as part of their trade. Because the men were frequently blamed for petty crime, the word is associated in modern Spanish with delinquents, petty thieves, or hoodlums. The mercheros identify as a distinct group separate from the Roma gitanos.

From Wikipedia · Quinqui jargon · CC BY-SA 4.0