Luis Fernando Lara, the editor of the Diccionario del español de Mexico (Dictionary of Mexican Spanish), said in an interview that the word derives from a Latin root that means “child.” In its feminine form, it came to mean “prostitute,” and its male form took that meaning as well, particularly in the gay community. It evolved to mean “coward” or “scaredy-cat.”

In soccer matches, he said, it is intended simply to insult the goalkeeper, not to call him gay.

“It seems to me that FIFA is wrong in judging the shout as an insult to homosexuals,” he said. “It is indeed an insult, but it is not aimed at the gay community. I think unfortunately they are making a cause out of the shout all through a politically incorrect mistake.”

Many gay advocates consider such reasoning nonsense.

“The whole point is that the choice of this word is absolutely linked to a negative, homophobic meaning,” said Enrique Torre Molina, a Mexican who is campaign manager at All Out, an international gay rights organization. “‘Puto’ is the word many gay men have been called in school or even by family members to mock us or put us down. ‘Puto’ is the word many gay men hear as they’re being beaten, sometimes to death, in the daily homophobic crimes committed in Latin America.”

He added: “What is kind of infuriating, especially after tragedies like the Orlando shooting and any other homophobic crime that happens, is to read and hear people refusing to let it go after having so many gay men literally asking for them to drop it. If you have a group of people saying, 'Hey, when you use this word, it hurts,’ why not drop it?”

Some fans are trying to do just that.

Sergio Tristan, a Mexican-American and the founder of Pancho Villa’s Army, an Austin, Tex.-based fan club for the Mexican team, said the group had tried to persuade the “vocal minority” backing the chant to drop it.

Tristan said that he had once chanted it too but that he had eventually acknowledged that it was offensive and not worth the penalties that have been or could be imposed on the team. He said the vitriol directed by American fans offended by the chat could actually backfire.

“They actually are making it worse,” he said, pointing to the perceived louder volume of the chant at recent matches. “It’s a Mexican problem that should be solved by Mexican fans.”

He added: “Whether or not it is offensive, it really is a matter of perspective. We want to stop it because we are at the juncture where our team could suffer fines or lose points in our World Cup spot.”