The Spanish word "chango" meaning "monkey" or colloquially "person" comes from the Basque word "txangu" meaning "lame" or "crippled". This semantic evolution likely occurred through a metaphorical extension, where the awkward or different way of moving associated with being lame became associated with the characteristic movements of monkeys. The word later broadened to become an informal term for "person" in some Spanish-speaking regions.

Since "chango" comes from Basque rather than Latin roots, there aren't many commonly used, simpler Spanish words that share its etymology.

There aren't any common English words directly related to "chango" since it comes from Basque, which is a language isolate (meaning it's not related to Indo-European languages like English and Spanish). Any similar-sounding English words would be purely coincidental.