Nachos are a Mexican snack, now eaten far beyond Mexico: small crisp tortilla chips piled with melted cheese, and often beans, salsa, hot peppers, sour cream, or meat. You usually share a plate and eat with your hands. In English the word is almost always plural — people say nachos, not “a nacho,” unless they are pointing at one chip. The food began as a quickly made plate for customers, then spread through Texas and the rest of the US, and from there around the world. In casual American English, nachos can stretch to mean any pile of chips with toppings, even when the cook is not trying to be faithfully Mexican. Though actually, the name is not an old food word at all: it comes from a person's nickname.