Argentine or Argentinian or Argentinean – What’s the difference?

/ Buenos Aires

Argentine and Argentinian are both correct when describing people/things from Argentina. “Argentine” has been historically more common but “Argentinian” is getting more popular every year especially when describing people.

Personally, I use “Argentinian” much more often than “Argentine” especially when describing people “Argentinean” is a North American spelling for “Argentinian” only used in the United States. 

Examples:

 ▪️ Where is Florencia from? Oh, she is Argentinian.

 ▪️ The Argentinian side of the Río de la Plata is nicer than the Uruguayan!  

Source: Photo google  graph

Argentine

For me “Argentine” sounds a little bit of an old fashioned way to describe a person from Argentina but it also works well as a positive connotation for something from Argentina.

Examples:

 ▪️ The little argentine has skills that mesmerises defences.

 ▪️ Argentine beef is so succulent.

It seems that both American and British speakers of English find “Argentine” acceptable in most cases of describing people and things from Argentina.

Argentinian

I always use “Argentinian” when I am describing people from Argentina. I also use it to describe products and sometimes “argentine” sounds a little bit strange to me.

Examples:

 ▪️ There are 3 Argentinians in my yoga class. 

 ▪️ Argentinian empanadas are better than Colombian ones!

 ▪️ Leo Messi is the best Argentinian player in soccer.   

Argentinean

“Argentinean” is a North American spelling for “Argentinian”. This is possibly because of countries like “Chile” whose nationality  is “chilean”. Notice that American speakers of English tend to pronounce “chilean” like “chilayen” whereas European speakers of English pronounce more like “chilian”.

Argentine or Argentinian food?

There is more of a tendency to use “Argentine” with adjectives and “Argentinian” with nouns. For this reason, I would suggest “Argentian food” but you could use “Argentine” to describe individual ingredients or dishes.

Examples:

 ▪️ Argentinian food is similar to Italian food, Discuss!

 ▪️ Those Argentine prawns are delicious. 

 ▪️ Argentine Flan with dulce de leche.

Remember you can use either “Argentine”, “Argentinian” or “Argentinean” so don’t worry too much about making a mistake. 

What does the dictionary/Internet say?

According to Merriam-Webster, Argentine can be used as a noun and as an adjective. Here are some examples: 

▪️  Argentine beef is part of the national identity, producing mostly top-quality meat from grass-fed cattle. 

▪️  Inflation at 64% has Argentine soy farmers hoarding all they can. 

▪️  Argentine family arrives home after 22-year drive around the world

(Source: Buenos Aires Times, 2022)

Here it’s used as an adjective describing an object (in these cases: beef, soy farmers and family) 

As a noun, Argentine can mean: A person from Argentina. 

▪️  Thousands of Argentines march for jobs, food, and more social aid as rampant inflation 6.7 percent for the month of March

(Source: Euronews, 2022)

▪️  Seven Argentines make the cut on annual Forbes rich list of billionaires

(Source: Buenos Aires Times, 2022)

According to Collins and Cambridge dictionaries Argentinian is an adjective that refers to Argentina. Here are two examples: 

▪️  My new colleague is Argetinian. 

▪️  Argentinian Falklands veterans mark ‘day of sadness’ over torture they endured. 

(Source: The Guardian, 2022)

Here it’s used to describe nationality or origin. 

Conclusion 

You can use either “Argentine” or “Argentinian” to describe people/things from Argentina. 

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