narco

1 of 2

noun

nar·​co ˈnär-(ˌ)kō 

plural narcos

1

US slang : one who traffics or deals drugs illegally

One of the ways for big narcos to launder drug money was to acquire land.

—Maureen Orth

… the US government has for the past fifteen years been waging all-out war on the Colombian narcos, with little to show for it.

—Michael Massing

also : narcotic drugs

—usually used before another noun

narco traffic/traffickers

narco smuggling

see also narco- sense 2

2

US slang : a person investigating narcotics violations : narc

Students also have agitated against university acquiescence in the presence on the campus of "narcos"—police agents seeking to make arrests for violations of narcotics laws …

—Earl C. Gottschalk, Jr.

narco-

2 of 2

combining form

1

: deep sleep

narcolepsy

2

[narcotic] : associated with, relating to, or engaged in the sale of illegal narcotics

narco-terrorism

narco-corruption

narco-criminals

narco-dollars [=dollars gained through the sale of illegal narcotics]

Examples of narco in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

Throughout his set, Peso made similar references to news clips about him and other Mexican artists whose music has similarly reflected the narco culture that surrounds them. —Thania Garcia, Variety, 13 Apr. 2024

The video for the two singles starts with Cano dropping bars (backed by a more electronic-leaning sound) in the studio from the perspective of a narco with a penchant for diamonds and luxury. —Tomás Mier, Rolling Stone, 4 Apr. 2024

Mexico is rife with stories about exotic narco pets. —Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 17 Jan. 2024

Most of the album’s songs narrate rags-to-riches stories with lyrics inspired by narco culture, the style of storytelling that has defined corridos bélicos. —Griselda Flores, Billboard, 5 Jan. 2024

A lot of the coverage of narco issues in general has been dominated by male writers and macho narratives. —Deborah Bonello, Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov. 2023

The female narco — who went by the names the Black Widow, La Madrina and the Cocaine Godmother — was one of the most powerful cocaine traffickers in the 1980s and a key figure in Miami’s drug wars. —Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 21 Sep. 2023

With the proliferation of drugs has come a new narco culture. —Kate Linthicum, Los Angeles Times, 14 Sep. 2023

Mexican security forces call these vehicles monstruos (monsters), but they are also known as rinocerontes (rhinos) and narcotanques (narco-tanks). —Emiliano Rodríguez Mega, New York Times, 1 Aug. 2023

Word History

Etymology

Noun

(sense 1) borrowed from American Spanish, probably short for narcotraficante "drug trafficker," from narco- narco- + traficante "dealer, trafficker"; (sense 2) from narc- (as in narcotics agent, narcotics officer) + -o entry 1

Combining form

combining form from Greek nárkē "numbness, lack of sensation"; (sense 2) in part after American Spanish narco- (as in narcodependencia "drug dependency," narcotráfico "drug trafficking") — more at narcosis

First Known Use

Noun

1954, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing narco

• narco-terrorism