This article is a summary of
Spanish profanity, referred to in the
Spanish language as
lenguaje soez (low language),
maldiciones (curse words),
malas palabras (bad words),
insultos (insults),
vulgaridades (vulgarities),
juramentos (oaths, or swearing),
palabrotas (lit.: "big words"),
tacos (in
Spain),
palabras sucias (dirty words in
Panama),
lisuras (in
Peru),
puteadas (in Peru,
Chile,
Argentina and
Uruguay),
desvergue in
El Salvador,
majaderías or
maldiciones in
Mexico,
garabatos (gibberish or shootings/firings in Chile),
plebedades (pleb talk) in the Colombian Caribbean or
groserías (impolite words or acts). Spanish profanity varies in Spanish-speaking nations, and even in regions of the same nation. Several of these words have linguistic and historical significance.
Idiomatic expressions, particularly profanity, are not always directly translatable into other languages, and so most of the English translations offered in this article are very rough and most likely do not reflect the full meaning of the expression they intend to translate.
References to sexual acts
The following words are indicative of a variety of sexual acts, especially
sexual intercourse and
masturbation, though mostly limited to specific geographic regions.
bellaco (lit.: "rogue")—used in Puerto Rico to mean "horny."
cachar—commonly used in Peru. In Chile, the noun form cacha is used with this connotation (pegarse una cachita, "to have a quickie"). It is also used as a loanword from the English "to catch," and, by extension, "to understand" ("to catch someone's drift").
chingar—originating from the
Basque verb
txingartu, meaning "to burn with coal" or from
Caló (Spanish Romani) word
čingarár, meaning "to fight." In the work
La Chingada, it was famously applied to
La Malinche, the mistress of
Hernán Cortés.
: In Mexico,
chingar means "to fuck" or "to make a mistake" ("to fuck up"). For example:
Chinga a tu madre or
Vete y chinga a tu madre ("Go fuck your mother") are often considered very offensive in Mexico.
Vete a la chingada translates to "go fuck yourself." Other uses are considered less offensive.
: A Mexican might say
No me chingues ("Don't fuck with me")—a fairly strong way to say "Don't annoy me," "Are you serious?" or "Get out of here!" If a Mexican is cheated in a business deal or defeated in sports,
me chingaron ("they fucked me") might be used. Also used is the expression
Estás corriendo en la chingada, literally "You are running in that which is fucked."
:
Soy chingón could mean in English "I rule" or "I'm the man,"
¡No chingues! or
¡No manches! means something like "No way!" (literally more like "Don't screw around").
¡Qué chingón! could be used to say "Wow, that's cool!" in an aggressive way.
¡Qué chinga! could translate to "What a pain in the ass!" while
¡A la chingada! can be a curse at someone or an expression of shock.
:
Machín (a contraction of
lo más chingón) could translate to, "the baddest motherfucker."
:
Chingadera is used to display frustration with an object. Translates to "fucking thing." The word is understood in Spain and
Puerto Rico, and used in the latter. It could mean from something related to sexual relations to being screwed up.
shimar—another variant used in Guatemala. The "sh" sound does not occur in formal Spanish, and is used as a corruption of the "ch" or "y" sounds.
chinquechar—equivalent to chingar, used mostly in northern and western Mexico.
chichar—used similarly to chingar, in the Dominican Republic. It describes a movement used when dancing the Cha Cha Cha.
clavar (lit.: "to nail")—In Puerto Rico it can be used in both vulgar and obscene expressions. For example: La clavé ("I nailed her"), Me la clavaron ("I was screwed"). In Mexico clavar generally means to penetrate.
coger (lit.: "to seize," "to catch," "to take" (e.g. a bus), "to pick" (e.g. fruit from a tree), "to pick up")—used most commonly in Spain, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Panama. In Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay it is analogous to the English "to get (some)" in the sense of a sexual encounter, and should not be used in a formal setting. In those regions, the usage of coger (meaning "to pick," etc.) has changed so that it almost always carries a sexual connotation. To express the literal meaning, the word agarrar ("to grab" or "to hold") in used instead. coger is used with either connotation (literal or obscene) in Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela and the southwestern United States. In Puerto Rico, Cuba and Spain coger is not considered offensive, unless used in an unambiguously sexual context. It can be used as a way to say "Go away, you annoyance!". In Chile, coger also always carries a sexual connotation, so it's not used at all - the literal meaning is expressed by the verb tomar ("to take").
comer (lit.: means to eat)—used in Argentina, Colombia and Panama is considered crude and used mostly by youth, e.g. "Me la comí" (literally: "I ate her," metaphorically: "I ate her out"). In Chile its means "to reach third base without going further." It is similar to comerla (or comérsela), chuparla ("to suck it") or mamarla.
culear (lit.. "to move one's ass")—used in Chile to refer to the act of having sex.
correrse (lit.: "to get off'," "to get out of the way")—means to have an orgasm. Used commonly in Spain.
dar (lit.: "to give")—used in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. In Mexico darlas ("to give them"), depending on the context, means "to give oneself (to another)" (sexually speaking).
:
dar un poco de caña—identical to the British "give a bit of stick" or the American "give a kick in the ass," meaning admonishment to correct some behavior. This expression holds primarily in Spain. In other regions it is unknown and the listener may mistake it for a crude sexual reference, although in Cuba a similar term is used,
dale leña, or
"give him/her (fire)wood." In
El Salvador, it also has a sexual connotation, as in
me la di ("I fucked her").
dar astilla (lit.: "to give a splinter")—used in the Dominican Republic. This phrase is a common among youth.
hacer(lo) (lit.: to do (it))—used in Panama and Puerto Rico. To say lo hice con él/ella ("I did it with him/her") means "I had intercourse with him/her." Note that hacer ("to do" or "to make") does not necessarily mean sexual intercourse.
echar un polvo (literally "to throw a powder")—used in Spain, Argentina and Chile, usually with a connotation of infidelity. It is fairly common in the Dominican Republic and it has gained popularity in Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico. In Peru, the variant tirarse un polvo is used.
follar—used particularly in Spain and to a lesser extent in Cuba, but rarely found elsewhere.
hundir (lit.: "to sink")—refers exclusively to heterosexual intercourse. Common uses and variations are voy a hundírselo and hundirle los pelos ("sink the curlies"; pelos is a reference to female pubic hair).
joder—considered very vulgar. Also used with the conntation of "fucking with (teasing, harassing)" someone or "screwing up" something.
: In Spain, the word is also used as an
interjection, as in,
¡Joder! ("Fuck!"). For example:
¡¿Joder, sabes español?! ("No kidding, you know Spanish?").
: The word
joder comes from the
Latin futuere (cognate with
French foutre,
Italian fottere,
Romanian fute,
Catalan fotre, and
Galician and
Portuguese foder).
: In parts of
South America,
joder means both "to annoy" (
no jodas = "no kidding") or "to have fun" (
vamos a joder = "let's have fun") and is deemed mildly vulgar but not obscene. In Chile, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic and Panama,
joder can be used as a vulgar substitute of the verbs
to annoy, or
to fool/mock (
No jodas conmigo = "Don't fool with me,"
Tú me estás jodiendo = "You've got to be -fucking- kidding me"). The substantive
joda is used as "fun" (e.g.
la joda loca = "great fun, wild party"), and the word
jodido as "difficult" (
examen jodido = "hard exam").
: In Cuba and Puerto Rico, it is used least in reference to sexual intercourse.
limar ("to smooth out")—used in Guatemala by the small population who speak Caló (a slang language).
: In Argentine slang, it means to be out of your mind, and also to be very amazed by something.
mámalo (lit.: "suck it")—not considered insulting when used between males (as in the adjective mamalón, which means "outstanding"), but derogatory when spoken to females.
: Comes from the verb
mamar which means "to suckle" and is used metaphorically in reference to oral sex.
mamabicho/mamabichos (lit.: "one who sucks bichos")—used in Puerto Rico.
meter (lit.: "to place" or "to insert")—sometimes used in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, or even Spain to imply the insertion of the male penis during sexual intercourse. (Yo se lo metí a ella = "I put it inside her").
picar (lit: "to sting")—a metaphor for the insertion of the penis.
pisar (lit.: "to step on")—used in Central America (mostly El Salvador and some parts of Honduras) and to some extent in Chile, Guatemala, and Cuba. It means being on top during intercourse, like the rooster does to the hen.
ponchar (lit.: "to pinch")—used in Mexico. In other regions, it means "to strike out" (in baseball) and is not considered offensive. In Panama it is used in with either connotation.
ponerla (lit.: "to put it")—used in Argentina. For example: Hoy la puse means "I had sex today."
rajpar' (corruption of "raspar"—"to scratch)—used in the Dominican Republic. Its "s" is corrupted to an aspirated voiceless stop.
remojar el cochayuyo (lit.: to soak the
cochayuyo)—used in Chile The expression alludes to the cochayuyo algae that is harvested on Chile's coast. The algae is preserved by sun-drying. To be used for cooking, it then needs to be softened by soaking in water.
singar (corruption of chingar)—most commonly used in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, and Cuba.
tirar (lit.: "to pull," "to shoot," or "to throw away")—sometimes used in Spain, Nicaragua, Perú, Chile, Ecuador and Puerto Rico, and is commonly-used in Venezuela and Colombia. For example: Me la tiré ("I fucked her").
: In Argentina,
tirar la goma (lit.: "to throw the
goma," see
goma below) refers to
fellatio.
References to male masturbation
Paja
Paja (lit.: "
straw," used in farms for
cattle and other animals to lie on): the expression
hacerse la paja is used in
Spain, South America,
Puerto Rico, the
Dominican Republic and Panama, meaning "to masturbate."; in Chile, Peru and Ecuador,
correrse la paja is used instead. In most parts of
Central America and the
Spanish Caribbean (and Chile as well) to masturbate is to
pajearse.
Pajero, or
pajillero ("one who does
paja") in Spain, is a masturbator (
wanker) and also can imply a weakling or a fool, due to a cultural association of masturbation with mental weakness.
In certain regions, such as Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, pajero (fem. pajera) can refer to someone who is lazy. In Guatemala and Honduras it means "liar." For example: Vos sos bien pajero,"You're such a liar." In Costa Rica, Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras and El Salvador, hablar paja can mean either "to talk nonsense" (Tú solo hablas (pura) paja, "You're just talking nonsense") or "small talk" (Estuve hablando paja con un amigo, "I was making small talk with a friend"). Calling someone pajoso or pajosa means he or she either lies a lot or speaks nonsense. Someone who is ignorant may be called a pajudo/a or pajúo/a' (lit.: "full of paja").
Japanese automaker Mitsubishi Motors introduced a sport utility model called the Pajero. The name was derived from a South American wildcat, but became a running joke. In the Americas and in Spain, the vehicle was rebadged as the Montero. (It has since been replaced in North America by the Mitsubishi Endeavor.)
In Peru, paja can also mean cool: Qué paja tu carro ("Your car is cool/nice.")
Puñeta
Puñeta (lit.: "related to
puño' meaning "fist"'," metaphorically, "masturbation") is an expression widely used in several Spanish-speaking regions and in the Philippines. Over the centuries, it has become a more generalized interjection (¿Dónde puñeta has estado?''/"Where the fuck have you been?").
By itself, it is used as a vulgar expression of any strong emotional reaction. For example, one may say ¡Puñeta! when noticing at a beautiful woman, or when hitting oneself on the head. Una puñeta means a "yank," in reference to male masturbation. It does not refer to female masturbation, which is dar dedo ("to give the finger)" or apuñalar(se) ("to stab with a puña, i.e.: a poignard"). Hacerse una puñeta means to pleasure oneself. Puñetero ("wanker") is also very commonly used.
To refer to masturbation, the word is used generally in the singular. When used in the plural, it carries a completely different meaning. For example: Vete a hacer puñetas could be translated as "Go to hell". It refers to the adornments that lawyers and judges wear in the wrist (puño) of shirts. These adornments require many hours of labor, so making such adornments (hacer puñetas) is supposed to be unpleasant and tedious.
¡Ay, puñeta! is a favorite expression of pornstar Carmen Luvana, who commonly uses it to show excitement during sex scenes. She often uses it when she reaches (presumed) orgasm.
Other references to male masturbation
chaquetear (lit.: "to use a jacket")—a verb that can be used as "to masturbate" mainly in Mexico. Used in European Spanish by fighters on both sides of the Spanish Civil War, used as "traitor or coward." In Chile and Spain, it means "to change one's posture rapidly".
: In Mexico, is has another meaning – "to create false hopes" or "to hallucinate."
Hacerse una chaqueta mental ("to engage in mental masturbation") is similar to
paja mental.
sobo (lit.: "abbrasion")—used in Costa Rica.
Macaquear(se) (lit.: "to act as a macaque")—used in Chile. Implies frequent masturbation; derives from the belief that macaques are wankers.
güirero (lit.: "one who uses a güira," a short, thick pole that is played as an instrument by rubbing it with a stick)—used as an insult, similar to "huevón."
References to the male genitalia
Cojones
Cojón (plural
cojones) is slang for "testicle" and may be used as a synonym for "guts" or "[having] what it takes," hence making it equivalent to English or .
A common expression in Spain is anything to the effect of … hace lo que le sale de los cojones ("… does whatever comes out of his/her balls"), meaning "… does whatever the fuck he/she wants." Variations are sale de los huevos, sale de las pelotas, etc. A common Basque catchphrase is los de Bilbao nacemos donde nos sale de los cojones ("we Bilbao natives are born wherever the fuck we want").
Sometimes, to denote obnoxious or overbearing behavior from someone else, idiom tocar los cojones/huevos/pelotas/ … ("to touch someone else's balls") comes to play. For instance: Venga, dame eso y para ya de tocar los cojones ("Come on, give me that and stop fucking around.") It can sometimes be an understatement: a principios de los treinta, los nazis ya empezaban a tocar los cojones.
It is also frequent to derive other words, such as adjectival form cojonudo (lit.: "ballsy"), indicating admiration. A famous Navarran brand of asparagus has this name.
It is sometimes used, at least in Spain, as a suffix, complement or termination to a word or name in order to confer it a derisive or overbearing quality. For instance: el Marcos de los cojones ("That fucking guy Marcos.") ,¡Dame ya la maleta de los cojones! ("Give me the fucking suitcase already!")
The phrases … me importa un cojón or … me importa un huevo mean "I don't give a fuck about …." In alternative variations one would raise the number, usually to three: … me importa tres cojones.
Cojones alone can also be used much like the four-word exclamations, though less usually; it is frequently a giveaway for native Catalan speakers when they speak Spanish, as collons is used much more profusely in situations akin to those for "fuck," "shit," etc.
Tocarse los cojones/los huevos/las pelotas (lit. "to touch one's own balls") stands for idleness or laziness. The fact that this is a not well-known expression in the United States may have been the excuse, according to some sources, for the April 2011 dismissal of a Princeton Spanish senior lecturer, with tragic consequences. In Chile, this term is unused; the preferred expression is rascarse las huevas (lit. "to scratch one's own balls").
Carajo
Carajo (lit.: "
crow's nest," or, metaphorically, or a small cup of coffee) is used in Spain in reference to the penis. In Latin America (except Chile), it is a commonly-used generic interjection similar to "fuck!" "shit!" or "damn it!" in English. For example:
Nos vamos a morir, ¡carajo! ("We're gonna die, fuck!") or a far away place, likened to
hell:
¡Vete al carajo!.
The diminutive carajito is used in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela to refer to (usually annoying) children, or to scold someone for acting immaturely, e.g. No actúes como un carajito ("Don't act like a brat!").
Caray is a mild minced oath for this word. Ay caray could be translated "Dang it" or "Darn it!" The word caracho is also considered mild like caray.
The connotation of "far away place" is supposedly based on the name of the Cargados Carajos, which belong to Mauritius. Nationalistic chants commonly use the phrase: ¡Viva Cuba, carajo!, ¡Viva el Ecuador, carajo!, and ¡Viva el Perú, carajo!
It is said that the term carajo originated during the Moorish invasion in Spain. The Moors were described as —or "garlic-face"/"garlic-shaped face"—which was later contracted to carajo.
Bicho
Bicho (lit.: "baitworm") is one of the most commonly-used references to the penis in Puerto Rico. It is similar to the much less-commonly-used word
pinga. In most other regions it is a non-vulgar reference to an insect or several species of small animals.
In Venezuela, it can be used as an interjection.
In El Salvador, it is commonly used as the slang equivalent of "kids."
In Nicaragua, and some parts of Costa Rica, bicho is used to reference the vagina.
In Spain, it refers to people (both male and female) who are a negative influence on others, often used as mal bicho ("bad bug"). When applied to children, it can mean one who is misbehaving.
Huevos/Pelotas/Bolas/Albóndigas/Ñema
Huevos (literally: "
eggs"),
pelotas (literally: "balls"),
bolas (literally: "balls") and
albóndigas (literally:
meatballs) all refer to
testicles in a profane manner. They are equivalent to
cojones in many situations. In Mexico, the word is not used in a potentially ambiguous situation; instead, one may use the inoffensive
blanquillos (literally: "little white ones").
Sometimes the words lavahuevos ("egg-washer") or lamehuevos ("egg-sucker") are used in the same context as "brown-noser" (meaning ambitious and self-effacing) in English.
Highly offensive Dominican insults involving this term are mamagüevo/mamagüevos ("egg-sucker") and mamagüevazo ("huge egg-sucker"). Mamagüevo is also used in Venezuela where it's considered less offensive.
Huevada/Huevá (lit.: "covered in egg") is used in Chile in reference to objects ("¡Qué huevá más grande!" may translate to "What an annoyance!"). Shortened forms huevá or even weá are usuallly intended to be less offensive. Many expressions using cojones in other countries are used in Chile with huevas replacing the former word. There's also a local expression: "¿Me hai visto las weas?" (lit. "Have you taken a look at my testicles?") means "How much of a fool do you think I am?".
Ñema (a corruption of yema, meaning "yolk") is refers to the glans. The word mamañema is functionally similar to mamagüevo.
Verga
Verga (lit.: a "
yardarm"—a part of a ship's
mast that holds the sails) occurs in a number of
Romance languages, including Spanish and Italian.
In Venezuela it can be used as a vulgar generic filler, as well as a boastful self-reference (similar to the English "That shit" or "I'm the shit"). For example, ¡Soy bien verga! (lit.: "I'm very dick") means "I'm very good at it!", and ¡Soy la verga andando! (lit.: "I'm the walking dick!") means and "I'm the best that there is!"
A common expression in Mexico is ¡Vete a la verga!, meaning "Get the fuck out of here!" In Mexico can be used as bad or ugly ¡Está de la verga!, "This is ugly!" or ¡Sabe a verga!, "This tastes like shit!"
In Guatemala, it also refers to a state of drunkenness as in ¡Está bien a verga!, meaning "He's drunk as Hell!" or "He's shit-faced!" It can also be used with an ironically positive connotation as in ¡Se ve bien vergón!, which means "It looks great!"
In Honduras the expression no vale la verga is used as a vulgar form of no vale la pena, meaning "It's not worth it."
Polla
Polla (lit.: "female
pollo'," i.e.: chicken or hen) is used in Spain, Nicaragua, El Salvador and in Puerto Rico (to a lesser extent). It is also used to mean a (young) female (similar to "chick"). Some years ago, in Costa Rica, the term jupa de pollo
("head of a chicken") was popular slang for "penis." The term todo el jupa de pollo'' was a popular way to say "the whole shebang" or "it's complete now."
In Spain, to say that something, especially a situation or an arrangement, is la polla is to have a high opinion of it. Esto es la polla. El hotel está al lado de la playa y además es muy barato. "This is fucking great. The hotel is close to the beach and it's cheap, too."
Oversized testicles as a marker of complacency
Huevón (lit.: "giant huevo")/Ahueonao/Ahuevoneado/Ahuevado (lit.: "one who has/was gifted large huevos)/Boludo (lit.: "one who has large bolas") is a strong personal reference in many Latin American countries. At times it can be used as an ironic term of endearment, especially in Chile and Panama, the same way as dude or "dawg" in North America (much like wey in Mexico), comparably with Greek malaka. For example, in Chile one would understand a sentence like Puta el huevón huevón, huevón. as "Fuck! That guy is an asshole, dude."
In Mexico, huevón is a pejorative term that usually translates as "slacker."
In Panama and El Salvador it can be loosely translated as "couch potato." One may also say tengo hueva, meaning "I'm feeling lazy."
In the Dominican Republic, Peru and Venezuela, güevón/güebón is the preferred form.
In Venezuela, it is pronounced more like güevón and, often, ueón.
In Chile, the preferred form to use is huevón and ahuevonado.
In Panama, awebao is the popular form, and a good example of the clipping of consonants (and sometimes vowels) in informal Spanish.
Youth in Argentina tend to use it as a culturally appropriated term of endearment.
In Chile and in the Quito region of Ecuador Ni cagando huevón ("Nor [will I be] shitting out a giant egg") is a phrase commonly used among youth meaning "Don't even think about it" or "Absolutely not."
In Argentina, boludo, refers to a man who is brave, but not too clever and apt to make too many mistakes.
Other terms denoting male genitalia
armado (lit.: "armed")—similar to the American word "hung." It is used in Mexico and South America to describe a man with a large penis.
buzzarino—a famous Mexican pimp whose name is now slang for penis
goma (lit.: "rubber" or "glue")—can be used as a minced oath. For example, vete a la goma can replace vete a la verga or vete a la mierda. The word "goma" literally refers to a number of products derived from rubber sap, such as natural rubber, glue, crude gum base, car tires or latex condoms.
: In Chile, goma is also an offensive term for an assistant. The plural form, gomas, refers to a woman's breasts.
: In Puerto Rico, a goma is a rubber tire.
: In Guatemala, Honduras, Panama and El Salvador, goma means "hangover." For example ¡José está de goma! means "José has a hangover." In Panama, the past participle engomado ("glued on") is also used. For example: José está engomado.
: An old tradition among Taína prostitutes was to signal their availability by chewing gum (comiendo chicle). The chicle was made with the goma from the rubber tree.
pipí—used in Panama. For example, Se me paró el pipí ("My dick has become erect"). It's also used by children in other Spanish-speaking countries to reference the penis.
paloma (lit.: "dove")—commonly used in Guatemala, El Salvador, Venezuela and also Nicaragua.
turca (the name for a species of bird) is commonly used in Nicaragua. The verb "turquear" means to physically beat someone up—perhaps as a verb form of a la turca (in reference to the Muslim ("Turkish") invasion into Spain).
pinga or less commonly pingo is considered offensive in most regions, although in Argentina, for example, its male form (pingo) may describe a horse. However, in Mexico it is also used as a term of endearment for an anti-hero, such as Puck, Huckleberry Finn or Dennis the Menace. The equivalent word in other regions for such people is travieso/traviesa (which in turn means "transvestite" in Argentina).
:In Mexico, Central America and other parts of South America,
verga is more commonly used, also, to say
¡La verga! could mean "Fuck!" or "No way!" (the second in a sense of "I can't believe it").
:
Pinga de la madre,
pinga 'e la madre and
pinga-la-madre are commonly-used interjections.
:In Panama and Costa Rica,
picha is used in the Chiriqui region, whereas
pinga is used elsewhere in the country.
pija—very common in Argentina and Uruguay. The word pijudo ("one who has a big pija") is also used.
pico—used in Chile.
Chile is famous for its absurd amount of alternate names and euphemisms for the penis. These range from the inoffensive (pito (lit. "whistle"), diuca (after a small bird)), through vulgar (pichula, pico) and euphemistic (cabeza de bombero (lit. "firefighter's head"), dedo sin uña ("nail-less finger")) to markedly euphemistic and humorous ("taladro de carne" (lit. "meat drill", "cíclope llorón" (lit. "crying cyclops"), "chacal de las zorras" (lit. "cunt jackal", in the sense of the jackal being a relentless predator), et cetera).
References to the female genitalia
Concha / Chucha / Chocha
Concha (lit.: "
mollusk shell" or "inner ear") is an offensive word for a woman's vulva or vagina (i.e. something akin to English
cunt) in Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. In the rest of Latin America and Spain however, the word is only used with its literal meaning. In such regions, it is commonly heard in the phrase
¡(La) concha (de) tu madre! ("Your mother's cunt"), which may be used as an expression of surprise or grief, or as a highly disrespectful insult. The contracted term
conchatumaddre/
conchetumadre is very common and very offensive in Chile, as well as in Ecuador.
In Mexico concha is also a type of sweet bread, round and covered in sugar, and is not offensive. In Spain, "Concha" is a common name for females (corruption of Concepción). Also in Puerto Rico there is a popular hotel called La Concha Resort (The Seashell). Key West, Florida also has a famous hotel named La Concha.
¡Chucha!/¡Chuchamadre! and ¡Chucha de tu madre! (respectively) are the Panamanian, Chilean, Ecuadorian, Peruvian or southern Colombian equivalents. Random examples and expressions: Vení, oleme la chucha ("Come and sniff my pussy"), Ella solo tenia puesto un par de tacones y lencería transparente, hasta se le podía ver la chucha a través de la tela, me dejó hechizado." ("She only had on a pair of heels and transparent lingerie, one could even see her pussy through the fabric, she left me spellbound"), ¡Ándate a la chucha!'' (roughly "Fuck off").
Chocha is also a game bird in Spain. The painter Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes made a painting with that name depicting some of those hunted birds.
In Venezuela, chocha is also a type of round seed or a particular type of bird
The name of the Latin American restaurant Chimi-Changa originated as a minced oath of chocha.
Coño
(from the Latin
cunnus) is a vulgar word for a woman's
vulva or vagina. It is frequently translated as "
cunt" but is considered less offensive (it is much more common to hear the word
coño on Spanish television than the word
cunt on British television, for example).
In Puerto Rico, Spain, Venezuela, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic it is amongst the most popular of curse words. The word is frequently used as an interjection, expressing surprise, anger or frustration. It is also common to use the expression ¿Pero qué coño? to mean "What the fuck?"
Its usage was so common among Spaniards living in the Philippines that konyo became a Tagalog word for upper-class people.
In Ecuador and Chile it means stingy, tight-fisted, although in the latter country the variation coñete is becoming more common.
In Colombia it also means "diaper."
Panocha
In Mexico and the Philippines,
panocha refers generally to sweet breads or cakes, or, more specifically, to a raw, coarse form of sugar produced there. It is also a fudge made with brown sugar, butter, cream or milk, and nuts (
penuche). In
New Mexico it means a
sprouted-wheat pudding. In the southwestern United States (and northern Mexico), however, it often refers to the female genitalia. Use of this word has been known to cause embarrassment among Mexicans from Mexico and their American-born relatives.
The word is a combination of penuche and panoja meaning "ear of corn," from the Latin panicula (from whence comes the English word "panicle"—pyramidal, loosely-branched flower cluster).
Cuca
Cuca (short for
cucaracha, lit.: "cockroach") is used in Honduras, Guatemala, Venezuela, southeastern México and Colombia. Slightly milder than
coño, and is almost inoffensive in the Dominican Republic.
In the Dominican Republic it is a common term for a parrot.
In Chile it is criminal slang for paddy wagon.
It is also an inoffensive word for penis that many children use in Spain. It also has a slightly archaic use in Spain.
In Latin America it may describe a congenial, outgoing person with a gift for flattery ("Julia is very cuca") or ("Eddie is so cuco; look at all the friends he has.").
In Nicaragua, it is used as slang for "penis."
Other terms denoting female genitalia
almeja (lit.: "clam")—used in Spain
bizcocho (lit.: "cake")—used in Central America
bollo—used in Cuba (and to a lesser extent Puerto Rico).
cajeta (lit.: a type of dulce de leche made from goats' milk)
chumino/chuminaco—used in Spain
conejo (lit.: "rabbit")—used in Spain
crica (lit.: "cove")—similar to the French crique
micha (lit.: a type of bread)—used in Panama
pan (lit.: "bread")—used in Guatemala
papaya—in some regions this word is only understood a vulgar reference to the vagina. There are tales of American tourists who asked a grocer for a papaya (fruit) and were angrily informed that he was not a pimp.
papo—used in Venezuela
pupusa (lit.: a type of traditional cuisine in El Salvador)
sapo (lit.: "toad")—used in Chile
toto/tota—used in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico
torta—a variant of "tota", and a pun that also describes a type of small pastry.
totona—used in Venezuela. It is similar to tostones, which is a serving of fried plantain slices.
zorra (lit.: "female zorro," or "fox")—used in Chile
Differences in regional Spanish can sometimes produce awkward situations in communication between two Spanish speakers of different countries, but such differences are usually known internationally and taken humorously, although some can cause awkward confusions. The word culantro refers to cilantro, but in Puerto Rico it can be used as a play on "culo." Also, the phrase Esa señora tiene muy buena cuchara translates literally as "That lady has a very good spoon" and means "that lady cooks very well," referring to the use of a cuchara/spoon while cooking. However, in Guatemala, the word cuchara is used as a synonym of "vagina," which can lead to misunderstanding.
References to one's backside
Culo
Culo is the most commonly-used Spanish word for "ass." In El Salvador and Honduras,
culero ("one who uses the
culo") refers to a male homosexual, while in Mexico it refers to an unjust, unkind or insensitive person.
Vete a tomar por culo ("Go and take it in the ass") is an expression used in Spain, it's like
Vete a la mierda but more offensive.
In Chile, culo is considered offensive (as it sounds very much like culear); poto is used instead.
Fundillo/Fundío
Fundillo/
Fundío—heard in Mexico and the southwestern United States as an obscene term specifically for the human
anus. It carries about the same weight as the American usages of the words "(someone's) asshole" or "the crack of (someone's) ass."
Fundío refers literally to the
anus and is not used as a personal insult. For example,
¡Métetelo en fundío! (or in Mexico,
Métetelo por el fundillo) is an expression of reproach or
cogitive dissonance ("Shove it up your ass!") The variant
fondillo is also found in Puerto Rico. In the Dominican Republic, the milder term
fullín and the very offensive
cieso may also be used.
Ojete
Ojete (lit.: "eyelet")—refers to the anus in some countries, and also is used to mean "asshole":
Se portó muy ojete conmigo ("He was a really bad person with me", or "He was an asshole to me"). A popular obscene
graffito in Mexico among schoolchildren is
OGT; when the letters are pronounced in Spanish, they sound like
ojete.
In Argentina, "ojete" and also its synonyms
culoand
orto can all be used to mean "good luck": "¡Qué ojete tiene ese tipo!" (He's such a lucky guy!), "Ganó de puro ojete!" (He won just because he was so terribly lucky).
Orto
Orto (an anagram of
roto, lit.: "route")—in Argentina, refers to buttocks (as either an object of appreciation or disgust): "Qué tremendo orto tiene esa mina" (in praise of a woman's buttocks), "Qué cara de orto" ("What an ugly/bitter/moody face"); or luck—either good or bad. "Me fue para el orto" means "I had an awfully bad luck on that". "Tiene un orto que no se puede creer" may mean "He/She is incredibly lucky" but can also be an appraisal of a someone's derrier, depending on context.
Other references to one's backside
cola
de pedo ("by farting")—another Argentinean expression meaning "fortunate." For example: Lo adiviné de pedo ("I was lucky enough to guess it").
al peo ("in a farty fashion")—used in Chile to express something done poorly or in a careless manner.
nalga
roto/rota (lit.: "route")—specifically refers to the anus.
References to scatological acts
Cagar
Cagar is a verb meaning "to shit." It also means to
screw (something) up, e.g.
¡Te cagaste los pantalones! ("You shit your pants!"). Particularly in Spain, there are a number of commonly used interjections incorporating this verb, many of which refer to shitting on something sacred, e.g.
Me cago en Dios ("I shit on God"),
Me cago en la Virgen ("I shit on the Virgin"),
Me cago en la hostia ("I shit on the
communion host"),
Me cago en tu madre ("I take a shit on your mother"),
Cágate en tu madre ("Take a shit on your mother"),
¡Me cago en la leche! ("I take a shit in your
[bad] milk!"). See below.
In Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico, Argentina and Chile it also means to make a big mistake, e.g.: La cagaste (lit.: "you shat on it"). In Argentina and Chile, it can also mean "you screwed" or "scolded" somebody (e.g.: Te cagaste a ese cabrón, "You took a shit on that guy").
In Mexico City it may be used ironically to refer to a fortunate outcome: Te cagaste ("You really shat on yourself").
In Chile, cagado ("full of shit") means "stingy" or "miserly". It can also mean "depressed" in some contexts ("Está cagado porque la polola lo pateó." translates as "He's depressed because his girlfriend dumped him.").
Mierda
Mierda is a noun meaning "shit." However, phrases such as
Vete a la mierda (literally: "Go to (the) shit") would translate as "Go to hell."
In Cuba, comemierdas (shit-eater) may also mean a clueless idiot, someone out of touch with his or her surroundings. In Puerto Rico, comemierdas is a pejorative reference to someone who is "stuffy" and unnecessarily formal.
In Peru, irse a la mierda or estar hecho mierda can also mean "to be drunk as Hell."
It is also used generally to describe anything that is vexing or unpleasant, such as tiempo de mierda ("shitty weather") or auto de mierda ("piece-of-shit car," "lemon"). A less common use is as a translation of the British profanity "bugger." The euphemisms miércoles (Wednesday) and eme (the letter m) are sometimes used as minced oaths.
Caca is a mild word used mostly by children, loosely comparable to the English "poop" or "doo-doo." Comecaca is functionally similar to comemierdas.
Attacks against homosexuals
Maricón
Maricón (lit.: "big Mary" {see below for explanation]) and its derivative words
marica and
marico are words used for referring to a man as a gay, or for criticizing someone for doing something that, according to stereotypes, only a gay person would do.
Marica is a diminutive form of
María ("Mary") and is a very common female name. The suffix is -on is often added to nouns to intensify their meaning.
In Spain, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Cuba the word has a stronger meaning with a very negative emphasis; akin to "faggot" or "poof" in the English language. In Argentina, Chile, and Mexico
maricón or
marica is especially used to denote a "chicken" (coward). In Chile,
maricón also means "irrationally sadistic." Some examples of the uses of this word are:
Eres una marica. ("You are a faggot.")
Mano, eres tremendamente maricón. ("Bro, you are so gay!"; here maricón is used as an adjective)
Yo sí soy maricón, ¿y qué? ("I am certainly gay—so what?")
No seas maricón. ("Don't chicken out," "Don't be a pussy," "Don't be an asshole")
¡Qué maricón de mierda, ¿eh?! ("He's such a damn faggot, right?!")
Devuelve la mamadera al bebé, que lo haces llorar. ¡No seas maricón! ("Give the baby back his bottle, because now you've made him cry. Don't be cruel!")
One important exception is Colombia, where marica is used as a slang term of affection among male friends or as a general exclamation ("¡Ay, marica!" being equivalent to "Aw, man!" or "Dude!" in English). This often causes confusion or unintended offense among Spanish-speaking first-time visitors to Colombia. Maricón, however, remains an insulting and profane term for homosexuals in Colombia as well. A similar case is seen in Venezuela, where the word Marico is an insult; However, the word is widely used among Venezuelans as "dude" or "man." For example, "que paso marico" would mean "what's up dude"; the word carries at least a third meaning in Venezuela because it often is used to show that someone is being very funny. For instance, after hearing a joke or funny comment from your friend, you laugh and say "haha si eres marico haha" which would be equivalent to "haha you crack me up man."
Derivatives of marica/maricón:
maricona—used in southern Spain to refer to a drag queen, in an often humorous manner. Elsewhere, maricona refers to a lesbian.
mariquita (diminiuitive of marica)— means a wimp or sissy in Spain. For example, ¡Eres una mariquita!, means "You're a pussy!" It also means ladybug. In Cuba, however, the term refers to a dish of fried plantains.
marimacha (combination of maricon and macha)—an insult common in Peru, usually referring to lesbians. It is considered offensive as mari prolongs the original insult macha. In Colombia, Macha is the feminine form of macho and thus refers to a tomboy. It is not really an insult, but more of a derogaroty way to describe a masculine/unlady-like girl.
maricueca (combination of maricon and cueca (female cueco, see below))—used in Chile
mariconzón (combination of maricón and colizón)
mariposa (lit.: "butterfly")—used as a minced oath. The word mariposón ("big ol' butterfly") may also be used.
Manflor
Manflor (combination of the English loanword "man" and the word
flor meaning "flower") and its variant
manflora (a play on
manflor using the word
flora) are used in Mexico and in the US to refer, usually pejoratively, to a homosexual female or
lesbian. It is used in very much the same way as the English word "dyke." For example:
Oye, güey, no toques a esa chica; todos ya saben que es monflora. ("Hey, dude, don't hit on that girl; everyone knows she's a dyke.").
It can be used as an ironic term of endearment between friends, especially within the gay and lesbian communities.
Other homophobic expressions
Many terms offensive to homosexuals imply spreading, e.g.: the use of wings to fly.
bámbaro—used in the south of Colombia
bugarrón/bufarrón/bujarrón/bujarra—used in Puerto Rico
cabro
cueco—used in Panama
cundango—used in the Dominican Republic and Cuba. In Cuba, cundango refers specifically to a male sex partner ("Tommy has been Robert's cundango for years"). It may mean "effeminate" or "sensitive" with a negative connotation
cochón—used in Nicaragua
cola (lit.: "tail")
desviado (lit.: "deviant")
fresa (lit.: "strawberry")—used to mean "fag" and can also refer to people who are preppy or yuppy. For example, pinche fresa means "fucking fag."
hueco (lit.: "hole")—used in Guatemala. In Chile, depending on context, it can mean either "homosexual" or "vapid."
invertido (lit.: "inverted", official used by the regime of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco)
joto (see below)
loca (lit.: "crazy woman")—used in Cuba and Puerto Rico. This is also used as a culturally-appropriated term of endearment among male and female homosexuals
macha (feminine form of macho)—refers to a "dyke." In Costa Rica, macho or macha is not derogatory but common slang for caucasoid, or similar to "blondie."
mamaverga/mamavergas (lit.: "cock-sucker")
maraco—used in Chile, only against male homosexuals; see maraca below.
muerdealmohadas (lit.: "pillow-biter")—used in Peru
pargo (lit.: "porgy" or "red snapper")—used in Venezuela, to mean "gay" or "flamboyant"
pájaro (lit.: "bird")—used in Dominican Republic and Cuba
pato (lit.: "duck")—used in Puerto Rico, Panama. This word is probably related to the Latin pathus meaning "sexually receptive."
playo ("flat")—used in Costa Rica
puto (see below)
raro/rarito (lit.: "weird")
tortillera (lit.: "a female who makes tortillas")—one of the most common insults to lesbians. Lesbian sex is often referred to as tortillear or hacer tortilla ("to make a tortilla").
parcha/parchita (corruption of "parga," a female pargo)
sucia (lit.: "dirty woman")—used as an ironic term of endearment among male homosexuals
trolo—used in Argentina
trucha (lit.: "trout")
tragaleche (lit.: "milk-swallower," with "milk" as a metaphor for ejaculate)
afeminado, chivo, colizón, comilón, fleto, homo, homogay (combination of the English loanwords "homo" and "gay"), julandrón, julai (shortened form of julandrón), plon, plumón, puñal, rosquete, sarasa, roscón, tortillero, tragasable
With Spanish being a grammatically gendered language, one's sexuality can be challenged with a gender-inapproriate adjective, much as in English one might refer to a flamboyant man or as a transgendered male as her. Some words referring to a male homosexual end in an "a" but have the masculine article "el"—a deliberate grammatical violation for a paradoxical effect. For example, although maricona refers to females, it may also be used as an compounded offensive remark towards a homosexual male, and vice-versa.
Attacks against one's character
Pendejo
Pendejo (lit.: "a pubic hair') may be translated as "dumbass" in many situations, though it carries an extra implication of willful incompetence. The less extreme meaning, which is used in most Spanish speaking countries, translates more or less as "jackass." The term however, has very high offensive connotations in Puerto Rico. An older usage was in reference to a man who is in denial about being cheated (for example, by his wife).
In Mexico, Central and Northern South America, pendejo refers to a stupid person (estúpido), synonymous with idiota ("idiot") or imbécil ("moron"), although much more offensive. It is considered very offensive in Mexico and Central America, and less so in Panama (although it is still considered impolite among older adults).
In Peru it means a person who is opportunistic in an immoral or deceptively persuasive manner (usually involving sexual gain and promiscuity, but not limited to it), and if used referring to a female (ella es pendeja) it means she is promiscuous (or perhaps a swindler). There the word pendejada and a whole family of related words have meanings that stem from these.
In South America pendejo is also a vulgar, yet inoffensive word, for children. It also signifies a person with a disorderly or irregular life.
In Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic, it has different meanings depending on the situation. It can range from ¡Te cogieron de pendejo! ("You were swindled!") to ¡Qué tipa pendeja! ("What a dumbass!" as when a strange woman behaves offensively, then suddenly leaves). In Mexico and some countries of Central America—especially El Salvador—una pendejada/pendeja is used to describe something incredibly stupid that someone has done.
In many regions, pendejo also means coward (with a stronger connotation), as in ¡No huyas, pendejo! "Don't run away, chicken-shit!"
In South America it refers to a person regarded with an obnoxiously determined advancement of one's own personality, wishes, or views (a "smartass").
In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, pendejo or pendeja refers to a child, usually with a negative connotation, like that of immaturity or a "brat". Also, in Argentina, as "pendejo" literally means "pubic hair" it usually refers to someone of little to no social value.
In Peru, however, it does not necessarily have a negative connotation, and can just refer to someone who is clever and street-smart.
In the Philippines, this word is extremely offensive, meaning a "cuckold", and often used with the intention of scathingly humiliating someone and robbing him of his pride.
In North Sulawesi, Indonesia, pendo (a derivative of pendejo) is used as profanity but with the majority of the population not knowing its meaning. The word was adopted during the colonial era when Spanish and Portuguese merchants sailed to this northern tip of Indonesia for spices.
In Spain, this word is hardly ever used.
In the film Idiocracy, Joe's lunk-headed lawyer is named Frito Pendejo.
Cabrón
Cabrón (lit.: "big goat" or "stubborn goat") is used in Spain, Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico, as a generic insult. An old usage is similar to that of "pendejo", namely, to imply that the subject is stubborn or in denial about being cheated, hence the man has "horns" like a goat (extremely insulting).
The expression ¡Ah cabrón! is used sometimes when one is shocked/surprised by something. Among close friends, the term is often inoffensive; however, it is not a word to be used casually with strangers.
As an adjective it is equivalent to "tough" as "It is tough" (Está cabrón).
To some extent, it can also be used with an ironically positive connotatin meaning great, amazing, phenomenal, or bad-ass. Such expressions would be said as: ¡Estás cabrón! or ¡Yo soy cabrón!. The word is quite flexibly used in Puerto Rico, and it can even have completely opposite meanings depending on the context. Best friends call each other "cabrón" in a friendly manner, while it may also be used in an offensive manner. One might say, "Esta cabrón" to describe something as very good or very bad depending on the circumstance.
In Panama, it is used as an adjective to mean something/someone very annoying (that pisses you off). The verb cabrear can mean "to piss off (someone)."
In Peru, cabro is a reference to a homosexual, hence cabrón is a superlative form ("big faggot"/"flaming faggot").
The term cabrón also means a handler of prostitutes, comparable to "pimp" in English. The most common way to refer to a pimp is Spanish is by using the term chulo as a noun. In some countries chulo can be used as an adjective somewhat equivalent to "cool" (Ese hombre es un chulo = "That man is a pimp" versus Ese libro es chulo = "That book is cool"). The word chula is a completely benign reference to an adorable female or feminine object, as in "¡Ay, que chula!"
Gilipollas
Gilipollas is a term used mostly in Spain and lacking an exact translation to English. Although the most frequent equivalents when translated in books, films other media are "
jerk," "
jackass," "" or "
asshole" (in English),
con (in
French), and
boludo or
pendejo (in
Latin American Spanish, see below), there sometimes is a subtlety missing therein which is seldom captured in languages other than European Spanish – to wit, the word may imply
self-aware idiocy or incompetence, with this self-awareness occasionally stressed to the point of (presumably futile) complacence. Nevertheless, this is not always the case and the common ground for every accepted meaning of the word is limited to either one of the following:
a person displaying a mix of obnoxiousness and stupidity;
stupidity in its own right, to the point of eliciting animosity, whether faked or real, in whoever uses the word.
When selecting a word denoting low intelligence, most Spanish speakers have three options:
using a merely descriptive term, or one which, although insulting, can be used as a mild or at times even affectionate form of teasing: tonto ("silly"), burro (lit.: "donkey"), etc.
using a more explicitly insulting expression, although one which still does not qualify as a real profanity: imbécil, idiota, estúpido.
one which delves into profanity. Gilipollas and capullo would correspond to such case.
The etymology of the word itself immediately confirms its genuinely Peninsular Spanish origins and preponderance, as opposed to other profanities perhaps more linked to Latin America: it is the combination of the Caló jili, usually translated as "candid," "silly" or "idiot," and a word which according to different sources is either polla (listed above) or a colloquial evolution thereto of the Latin pulla (bladder).
Gilipollas is also a very old sport of the 17th and 18th centuries, invented by the Greeks in Spain. The word "gilipollas" comes from (gilus-pola). It is played with two balls with a radius of 4 inches and with a bat of two inches wide and 9 long. At stake may only be two teams, usually of boys against girls, each with between 6 and 9 players.
Perhaps due to the alternative origins of the latter part of the word, there has been some controversy concerning its status as a real profanity, although its clear phonetic evocation of the word polla leaves little room for doubt, at least in its common daily use. It is due to this that attempts at an euphemism have at times become popular, as is the case with gilipuertas (puerta standing for door). Recently, similar phrases have appeared, especially in Spain, although most of them (such as soplapollas, "cock-blower") delve much further into plain profanity. A cognate in Catalan is gilipolles.
A usual derivation of the word gilipollas into an adjective form (or a false adjectival participle) is agilipollado/agilipollada. For example: … está agilipollado/a would mean "… is behaving like a gilipollas." Regardless of whether or not such condition or irreversible, the verb estar is always used, as opposed to ser. Gilipollat/da would be the Catalan cognate. Another Spanish construction with similar rationale is atontado, derived from tonto' ("silly").
A noun from of the word is gilipollez, meaning "stupidity" or "nonsense."
Capullo
Capullo (lit: "
cocoon" or "
flower bud") is nearly always interchangeable with that of
gilipollas. The main difference between the two of them is that while a
gilipollas normally behaves like he does out of sheer stupidity, a
capullo normally acts like one by applying certain amount of evil intentions to his acts. While one can act like a
gilipollas without being one, in the
capullo instance that is not possible. In English
to be means at the same time both the permanent/ fundamental characteristics and the non permanent/ circumstantial ones of anything, in Spanish
to be separates into two distinct verbs:
ser and
estar which respectively reflect the aforementioned characteristics. So, to say about anyone that
es un gilipollas means that he is stupid/ annoying permanently, while to say
está agilipollado reflects both his present state and the fact that it could change at any time to a non
agilipollado one. This is not true for a
capullo: if someone thinks about someone else that he is a
capullo, he thinks so permanently, because the degree of evil he sees in the
capullo's actions tends to be thought of as a permanent characteristic, inherent to the
capullo's personality. So the correspondent verb
ser would be used:
es un capullo, and the
estar verb would never be used.
Whenever used as an affectionate or heavily informal form of teasing rather than as an insult, though, capullo is used a bit more often. This may be due to the fact that someone who does not have an intention to offend will resort to a lower amount of syllables, hence rendering the expression less coarse and ill-sounding. Therefore, expressions such as venga va, no seas ___ ("come on, don't be silly") would use capullo more frequently than gilipollas.
Huey/Güey
Huey/Güey is a common term in Mexico, coming from the word
buey that literally means "ox" or "steer." It means "stupid" or a "cheated husband/boyfriend/cuckold."
It can be used as a less offensive substitute for cabrón when used among close friends. Young Mexican and Chicano men use this word routinely in referring to one another, like the English word "dude."
Joto
Joto (lit.: the "jack" or a "knave" in a Western
deck of cards) is used in Mexico and the southwestern United States, usually pejoratively, in reference to an over-sexed male. Arguably more offensive than
maricón,
joto usually refers to a man who is indifferent to pertinent matters, or who is a "loser," with perhaps a hinted accusation of
closeted homosexuality. For example, a
gay man in Mexico might derisively refer to himself as a
maricón, but probably not as a
joto. Recently the use of
joto,
jota or
jotita in Mexico have changed, and is being embraced by the
gay community, mainly as an adjective:
Es una película muy jota ("It's a very gay movie"). Not to be confused with the word
jota, which refers to a traditional Spanish, Mexican or Argentine parlor dance.
Gonorrea
Gonorrea is commonly used in Colombia to express strong contempt. For instance, it would be used to insult an unremorseful murderer, e.g.:
Ese man es una gonorrea ("That man is a despicable person
). In some cases it may be similar to hijo de puta
/hijueputa.
Gonorrea
can also refer to objects: ¡Este trabajo es una gonorrea!
(This work is very hard
); ¡¡Una gonorrea de trabajo!!
(An absolutely disgusting work'').
Madre
Madre, depending on its usage (for example:
madrear—"to beat," or
hasta la madre—"full"), can be profane in Mexico, where there is a cultural taboo against matriarchial families (due to associations with pagan
witchcraft).
Chinga tu madre is considered the extremely offensive.
Madre could be used to reference objects, like ¡Que poca madre! ("That's terrible!") and Esta madre no funciona ("This shit doesn't work"). It can also be used with an ironically positve connotation, as in ¡Está de poca/puta madre! ("It's fucking awesome!").
Madrazo, in Colombia, refers to insults in general, and "hechar madrazos" means "to insult/curse somebody out."
Attacks against fornicators
Puta
Puta literally means
whore, and can be extended to any woman who is sexually promiscuous. This word is common to all other Romance languages (it is
puta also in Portuguese and Catalan,
pute/
putain in French,
puttana in Italian, and so on) and almost certainly comes from Vulgar Latin
putta (from
puttus, alteration of
putus "boy"), although the
Royal Spanish Academy lists its origins as "uncertain" (unlike other dictionaries, such as the
María Moliner, which state
putta as its origin).
The word is used in quite a few common expressions. hijo de puta is the Spanish equivalent of "son of a bitch" in English. The use of puta as "bitch" has led to its use as slang for the word "bitch" in the US by Spanish-speaking immigrants.
In Honduras, and El Salvador, the word puta is a very common part of everyday speech, and it is not such a strong word as it is in the rest of Central America.
Hijo de puta
While
hijo de puta is a common insult in Latin American countries (and is even dismissed as a not very offensive one), saying
tu madre es una puta ("your mother is a whore"), while just a slight rewording, is
much more offensive to the average Latin American, since it is perceived more as a personal insult to one's mother than to oneself. In informal spoken Spansh,
hijo de puta may often be contracted to
hijueputa or
jueputa. In Spain, the contraction
hijoputa is commonplace. Milder corruptions include juepuña and juepucha.
Hayao Miyazaki's Japanese film 天空の城ラピュタ () was marketed outside Japan with the title "Castle in the Sky" because la puta means "the whore" in Spanish; this expression is used for denoting surprise or just insulting someone. Film's title was a reference to Jonathan Swift's book Gulliver's Travels, in which Laputa is the name of a flying island. In the Spanish-language version of the movie, the flying island was referred as Lapuntu as a euphemism.
The expression hijo de puta is often transformed to hijo de la gran puta (literally: "son of the great bitch"), hijo de la grandísima puta (literally: "son of the really-great bitch"), maldito hijo de puta ("cursed son of a bitch") or simply hijo de la gran … (literally: "son of the great …") to add emphasize to another insult. Another possible derivation is hijo de mil putas (literally: "son of a thousand bitches").
Also, when referring to a specific person rather than arbitrarily blurting hijo de puta, one may proclaim hijo de su puta madre in order to specify a certain person with whom the speaker is displeased.
In Spain, puta (as well as its masculine form puto) is very frequently used as an adjective. It is then sometimes little more than an expletive devoid of meaning: vamos a la puta calle, lit.: "we are going to the whore street." To be somebody or something de puta madre (lit.: "from a whore mother") means to be excellent, to be the best possible: Lo pasamos de puta madre "We had a bloody brilliant time." It can be also ironic: De puta madre, ¿ahora qué hacemos? "Bloody brilliant. What are we supposed to do now?"
Puto
Perhaps the most offensive word referring to a
homosexual male is
puto; literally
male prostitute. It is highly offensive, but is sometimes used by members of the gay community to refer to themselves, as a form of
cultural appropriation (similar to to the use of "bitch" between English-speaking women or incarcerated homosexuals). In many places, such as Mexico, it is a pejorative reference to a gay man (this usage is present in
Don Quixote). In others, like Cuba and Puerto Rico for example,
puto is simply a comment on a man who is
promiscuous and a womanizer (depending on context or tone, it can be extremely offensive or teasing). In Puerto Rico
puto or
palgo may refer to a womanizer.
Less-offensive uses of puto/puta
Puta or
puto can also be used as adjectives, roughly corresponding to the equivalent of "fucking," "shitty," "bitch" or "bloody";
¡dame el puto dinero! means "give me the fucking money!"
An expression used in Spain is ¡Me cago en la puta Virgen! (literally "I shit on the virgin whore!" but better translated as "I shit on the fucking Virgin!").
Puta madre (lit.: "whore or fucking mother")—used in phrases such as de puta madre in Spain, Mexico, Peru and Chile. It can also be used as an ironic expression of praise. For example: Me siento de puta madre can be translated as "I feel motherfucking great". So, the use of puta madre is comparable to how "motherfucker" can be used positively in English, although more uniformly positive: Escribe como la puta madre (in Spain: escribe de puta madre) might mean "He writes motherfucking great"; Es una tía de puta madre can mean "She's a motherfucking awesome chick." There is also a pejorative way of saying it, which is ¡Vete con la puta madre que te parió! which means "Leave with the whore-of-a-mother who gave birth to you!"
The phrases En mi puta vida … and En la vida de mi puta madre … mean "Never in my life …" and are considered vulgar although not personally insulting, per se.
The verbal form putear could mean: "piss off," "harass," "mistreat," "tease," "beat up."
Other attacks against fornicators
cuero (lit.: "leather" or, metaphorically, "skin")—used in the Dominican Republic to mean a "hooker." It is also used in Panama for referring to women Mira ese cuero ("Check out that woman"). Botas de cuero ("leather boots") is a pun that also means "hooker boots" (literally, "boots for a hooker").
: In Mexico, it may be a playful reference to any sexually-attractive woman.
avión (lit.: "airplane") and avionazo (lit.: "big airplane") are Dominican equivalents to the English word slut.
: In Colombia,
avion is an ironic reference to someone who is street-smart or clever. For example:
El es mucho avion ("He's very clever").
furcia
ramera
maraco/maraca: in Chile, the former (male) form means "maricón," as stated above. However, the latter (female) form means "prostitute," not "lesbian." Not to be confused with "maracas" which is a pair of rattles used as a traditional musical instrument.
Other attacks against one's character
analfabestia (contraction of analfabeto, "illiterate" and bestia, "beast")—refers to someone who has made a fundamental error in spelling or grammar. In Latin America, education is highly valued and the people have little patience for adult whose mastery of the Spanish language is questionable.
chocha (see above) can also refer to a senile person.
cerote (lit.: "a wad of wax," or, metaphorically, a wad of dry feces)—used in Guatemala and El Salvador as an insult similar to "piece of shit"
connorito—slang for a male Spanish prostitute
mal nacido or mal parido (lit.: "badly born")—sometimes shortened in one word (malnacido/malparido), is used in many Latin American countries as synonyms for "motherfucker," particularly in Colombia.
mal criado (lit.: "badly raised," "spoiled")—used to scold a misbehaving child or a delinquent adult.
pinche (lit.: "cook's assistant")—an expression of mediocrity. It is often uses as an insult, as in pinche güey ("loser"), or to describe an object of poor quality, está muy pinche ("It really sucks"). In Mexico, it is often equivalent to the English terms "damn," "freakin'" or "fuckin'," as in estos pinches aguacates están podridos … ("These damn avocados are rotten …"); Pinche Mario ya no ha venido … ("Freakin' Mario hasn't come yet"); or ¿¡Quieres callarte la pinche boca!? ("Would you like to shut your fuckin' mouth?"). Sometimes pinchudo(a) is said instead.
In Puerto Rico pinche simply refers to a hairpin, while pincho has the same meaning in Dominican Spanish.
saco de huevas/"sacoweas" (lit.: "sack of huevas")—used in Chile to mean useless. This insult is directed much more to men or objects than to women.
Profanity related to religion
Perhaps paradoxically, there is a tendency in Spanish-speaking countries to religiously related, irreverent or even blasphemous profanity which is far more prevalent than in other countries with a lower percentage of Christian affiliates. Most, if not all, of the profanity is of Peninsular Spanish origin, has always been much more prevalent in Spain, and was already existing before the population in Spain and Latin America was exposed, to any degree, to
Evangelical Christianity. Therefore, the etymology for these expressions arises from Christian terms, especially those concerning Catholic rites.
Hostia
Hostia literally means a
sacramental host, but in Spain and Puerto Rico and Malta (whose natives speak
Maltese, a minor Romance language) it also has profane connotations:
Bodily destruction – whether by slapping, smacking, smashing or punching: e.g. se pegó una hostia con el coche (he/she smashed his car up badly). For example, Te voy a meter dos hostias ("I'll put two hostias in you") means I'll beat the shit out of you.
: A variation of this is
no tener media hostia (lit.: "not having half a host"), which means having a weak or frail disposition—the implication being that the subject couldn't win a fight.
An abstract or distant point of reference or comparison. For example, Hace un frío de la hostia means "It's freezing like Hell." Más feo que la hostia roughly translates to "Uglier than the host," but means "Uglier than Hell." Eres la hostia ("You're the host") might be a vulgar way of saying "You are something else."
: It's customary to describe something by saying
la hostia de …, for instance
Este chocolate está la hostia de bueno (lit.: "This chocolate is as good as the host") would mean "This chocolate is so fucking delicious."
: An idiom which is frequently used in Spanish (and sometimes in Catalan, without translating
quinta to
cinquena) is
la quinta hostia (lit.: "the fifth host"), indicating a very long distance.
Ahora vete a saber dónde trabaja Juan; me han dicho que se fue a la quinta hostia might mean "Who knows where Juan works now; I heard that they sent him to the boonies."
:
A toda hostia means "quickly" or "hurriedly."
It is also used as a generic interjection, such as many four-letter words in English. ¡(La) hostia! would simply mean "Shit!" or "Damn!" for instance denoting surprise or indignation. ¡(La) hostia puta! means "Fucking hostia!" but would translate to "Holy shit!" Minced oaths include ¡Ostras! (lit.: "Oysters!"), ¡Ondia! and ¡Óstima! (both derived from Catalan).
: The same variations are applicable to this meaning that to four-letter words. For instance
¿Qué hostias haces? would mean "what the fuck are you doing?."
It can also be used to mean "bullshit," "stupidity" or anything trifling. Déjate/dejémonos de hostias would mean "just cut the crap" or "don't waste your time." Ya estoy harto de tanta hostia would mean "I've had it with this shit." … no se anda con hostias would mean "… is really no-nonsense" or "… doesn't fuck around."
A very frequent use of the word is in mala hostia (lit.: "bad host"), which can stand for any of the following:
* a state of extreme anger: estoy de mala hostia would mean "I'm pissed off."
* a vicious, vindictive, malevolent, abrasive or aggressive character or disposition. It is usually the translation for English expressions such as "mean disposition," "bad attitude," "short temper."
* a tendency towards cynicism or callousness: tienes muy mala hostia insinuando eso ("that insinuation is so fucking disingenuous/ill-intentioned of you")
* bad luck: ya es mala hostia morirse el día de su cumpleaños would mean "it takes the hell of a bad luck to die on his birthday."
Used to express anger, irritation, contempt, or disappointment: me cago en la hostia (lit.: "I shit on the communion host").
The phrase cagando hostias (lit.: "shitting hosts [over and over]") means "as fast as possible" – or even faster than possible. Cuando llegó la pasma, nos abrimos cagando hostias, "When the cops arrived, we got the fuck away immediately."
Compare "hostie" in Quebec profanity.
Leche
A word used almost interchangeably with all profane uses of
hostia is
leche (lit.: "milk"), possibly derived either from a common slang term for
sperm, or from the milk that one had from his mother as a baby.
Tener mala leche—literally, "to have bad milk," figuratively referring to the child of a promiscuous or otherwise despicable woman—refers to someone who is mean-spirited.
Te voy a meter una leche means I'll beat the fuck out of you.
eres la leche: "you're unbelievable." (used with an ironically-positive connotation, eg: Este juego es la leche. - This game is awesome.)
leche or leches (minced oath: leñe) means "Goddamnit," usually inserted at the end of a sentence.
Déjate de leches means "just cut the bull" or "let's get straight to the point."
Estoy de mala leche would mean "I'm pissed off." This is extremely common in Spain. It can be used as a noun: el de la tienda de enfrente es un viejo mala leche would be "the desk clerk in the store across the street is a cranky old fucker." Mala leche or mala hostia are usually introduced as translations for concepts such as cynicism or schadenfreude.
¡Qué mala leche tienes! would mean "You're so mean!" or even "You're such a badass!"
Siempre tuvo muy mala leche con sus inversiones—"He was always so damn down on his luck with his investments."
Minced oaths for mala leche include mala idea or mala baba (lit.: "bad drool").
Copón
Copón, used mostly in Spain, stands literally for the
ciborium, but also shares virtually the same profane usage as the second listed definition for
hostia. For instance:
Mas feo que el copón roughly translates to "uglier than the ciborium," but means "uglier than Hell."
¡Copón bendito! ("Blessed chalice!"), would means something like "Holy crap!"
Compare "ciboire" and "câlice" in Quebec profanity.
Openly blasphemous expressions
Perhaps unique to a number of Romance languages are the openly scathing remarks directly aimed at Catholic iconography or Catholic rites. Many of them involve acts of , such as cagar, "to shit," e.g.:
Me cago en Dios ("I shit on God"),
Me cago en Cristo ("I shit on Christ"),
Me cago en la madre de Dios / en la Virgen ("I shit on the Mother of God / on the Virgin"),
Me cago en la hostia ("I shit on the Host").
Me cago en tus muertos ("I shit on your ancestors").
Me cago en vosotros ("I shit on you all," prevalent in Spain).
Me cago en vos ("I shit on you," prevalent in Argentina).
La concha de Dios ("The cunt of God," often used in Argentina as an insult, it is said to be the place where all human were born, as "The vagina of God")
Me cago en Dios y en la puta Virgen ("I shit on God and on the fucking Virgin," prevalent in Nerja, southern Spain, Argentina and around football pitches in Madrid)
¡Maldita sea! (lit.: "May he/she/it be cursed [by God]")—a common interjection used almost universally across Spanish-speaking regions (except for Argentina). Despite the literal meaning, it is widely used in Spanish-speaking television, since it is not considered very offensive, it is always much more preferable than ¡Coño!, for instance.
: It is considered offensive when combine with other phrases to form a personal insult. For example:
¡Maldita sea la madre que te parió!' ("God damn the mother who bore you!"), ¡Maldita sea la chocha que te parió!'' ("God damn the cunt that bore you!")
¡Demonios! (lit.: "demons!")—used to express grief. For example: ¡Qué demonios! would be "What the hell!"
Diablo or Diablos (lit.: "Devil" and "devils," respectively)—used as expletive fillers, similar to "Hell" in English and analogous to the British usage of the word "devil." No sabemos qué diablo/diablos hará ese cabrón means "We don't know what the hell/devil that jerk will do!"
:
Diablo is often used in the Dominican Republic to express extreme displeasure (
El examen fue más difícil que el diablo = "The test was extremely difficult" - literally "The test was tougher than the Devil"). The phrase
más que el diablo (which could translate as "Yeah, right!") is also used often in the Dominican Republic to express incredulity (
Ese examen fue fácil – más que el diablo = "That exam was easy – yeah, right!").
Diantre—used as a minced oath for diablo. Diañe, and Diache are also used as substitute terms in the Dominican Republic. Equivalents in English would be "dickens," "deuce," or "heck" (example: ¿¡Pero qué diantres has hecho!? - "Uh, what the heck have you done!?").
"¡Santa María!"/"¡Ave María!" ("Goddamn it!")
"Ay, Dios" ("Oh, God") or "Ay, Dios mío" ("Oh my God"). Alternatively, women may say "Ay, Virgen" or "Ay, Santa." Not considered personally offensive, but blasphemous nonetheless.
Lavincompái (contracted form of "la Virgen compadre")—perhaps the strongest profane utterance used in Andalucía especially in the environs around Granada. Its equivalent in American English may be "motherfucker," and the Spanish term can be employed across the same spectrum of expression. One may use it to express anger, disgust, or even an extreme pleasure, but it should be employed judiciously and not in polite company.
¡San … (usually involving one or more Catholic Saints)
"¡Puñeta!" may be short for "¡Una puñeta en la cruz!" or "¡Me hago una puñeta en la cruz!" ("I masturbate onto the Cross!")
The "… tu madre" component in a phrase can be changed to the elongated "… la madre de Dios." For example: "¡Maldita sea!" can be changed to "¡Maldita sea tu madre!" or "¡Maldita sea la madre de Dios!" ("Damn it," "Curse your mother," "Curse the Mother of God"). Similarly, "Concha-tu-madre" can be changed to "Concha-la-madre-de-Dios."
There are some creative variations, usually involving to addition of puta/puto ("fucking") to any of the above or combining words (e.g. me cago en Dios y en su puta madre). Occasionally, the rather incongruous Me cago en San Dios, when heard, is usually indicative of a low social standing. In Spain, youths perpetuate such idiomatic expressions as a form of linguistic audacity; often phrases that seem most shocking, archaic or otherwise eccentric are favored. Thus it is not uncommon to hear Cago en tu dios ("I shit on your god"), or the more elaborate and blasphemous Me cago en la boca del Papá ("I take a shit into the mouth of the Pope"), Me cago en el copón ("I take a shit into the Holy Chalice") or Me cago en el sagrado corazón de Jesús ("I take a shit onto the Sacred Heart of Jesus"). Expressions like these are considered more offensive than those previously listed and, surprisingly, are actually condemned as blasphemous - even by those who would not hesitate to utter an occasional "Me cago en Dios."
:Again paradoxically, these are most common in rural regions of Spain, where Catholicism is most prevalent. However, the region in Spain where these expressions are used most profusely, and at times "creatively," is a non-Spanish speaking region, comprising Empordà and Garrotxa, where Catalan is the prevalent language and the one in which all these expressions are used:
Em/me cago en Déu ("I shit on God"), by far the most usual, pronounced in abbreviated form cagondéu,
Em/me cago en la Verge/la mare de Déu ("I shit on the Virgin"),
Em/me cago en l'hòstia ("I shit on the Holy Form"), sometimes pronounced in abbreviated form cagonlhòstia,
Collons de Déu (literally "God's balls," standing for "fucking God").
variations which can be extremely convoluted. e.g. 'cagon' el Déu que t'aguanta (lit.: "I shit on the God that holds you"), cagon el Déu que et va parir (lit.: "I shit on the God that gave birth to you"), em/me cago en els tres/quatre puntals/pilars que aguanten la cagadera de Déu (lit.: "I shit on the three/four pillars holding God's toilet").
Common stereotypes characterize this region as the birthplace of "eccentric" characters (some of them famous. e.g. Salvador Dalí, Josep Pla or Alexandre Deulofeu) and one of the most usual attributes of this stereotype is the very casual use of blasphemous profanity—to the point of it being indicative of other states of mind aside from outrage, such as joy or surprise.
Minced oaths include 'Me cago en diez' (lit.: "I shit on ten"), 'La madre de Dios' (without the me cago en) or 'La madre del cordero' ("the lamb's mother"). Once again, Spaniards rejoice in elaborating on existing swear expressions and thus one may hear 'Cago en el copón de la baraja' ("I shit into the ace of cups" (from deck of cards)) or 'Cago en la copiona' ("I shit onto the copy-cat") instead of Cago en el copón. In this case copón, literally "large cup" is the subject of the pun. Another source of neologisms in the field of profanity is the elaboration of intricate rebuttals (often rhymed ones) that are uttered consensually by several speakers, i. e.: a person may say "Cago en diez" "I shit on ten" and somebody else may add Cago en veinte que es más potente "I shit on twenty, because it's much more plenty" and so forth.
A common way that new phrases are developed is through the habitual avoidance of formal swears by substituting euphemisms. Instead of Me cago en Dios one may hear such expressions as Me cago en Dena ("I shit on Dena") or Me cago en Diógenes ("I shit on Diogenes") or Me cago en Dío ("I shit on Dío") or Me cago en Diosle ("I shit on Diosle") or Me cago en diéresis ("I shit on the umlaut"). Some of these rhymes and euphemisms are rather obscure but once they spread, they become common lore among those speakers who rejoice in discovering new expressions. A prime example of an incongruous swear expression would be Me cago en Mahoma que tiene los huevos (cojones) de plástico y de goma ("I shit on Mohammed, who has balls of plastic and of rubber").
Compare to Italian porco Dio, porca Madonna or the numerous possible (see: Italian profanity), French Nom de Dieu or Nom de Nom or Romanian anafora mă-tii! ("Your mother's host!").
The reason why these expressions are so prevalent in Romance languages might be the totemic or comic cults practiced by the ancient peoples of the Italian Peninsula and the Northern Mediterranean Basin, or by the indigenous peoples of what would eventually become the largest area of expansion of the Roman Empire. There are villages, at least in Italy, where it is still customary to insult and boisterously poke fun at an effigy of the Virgin Mary as a sign of awe and belief (however contradictory this might seem to foreigners). Nevertheless, this is not the only reason, as open Maltheism is not unusual, especially among intellectuals or elder educated people in rural zones of Catalonia, both as a consequence of the above phenomena and of the volatile relationship established between the peasantry and working class and the upper echelons of the Catholic Church. A common phrase, sometimes attributed to philosopher Xavier Rubert de Ventós, is Déu, si existeix, és un fill de puta ("God, if He exists, is a son of a bitch"). This phenomenon is also found in Quebec, which is also of Catholic Romance background, but it would appear, rarely in Ireland, German-speaking, or Catholic Slavic countries like Poland. The Irish, for example, are famous for their profanity but usually limit it to secular words.
Racial derogatives
mayate (lit.: dung beetle)-mostly used by Mexicans or Mexican-Americans referring to dark-skinned individuals.
llanta (lit.: tire)-a general prison slang used by Mexicans or Mexican-Americans referring to very dark skinned individuals.
Other terms
cucha—used in Colombia in reference to offensive body odor. It may also be a corruption of ¡Escucha! ("Listen!").
so' (English loanword)—used to imply "such a …" but not always able to be directly translated in English. For example: "¡Cállate, so' puta!" ("Shut up, you bitch!")
vaina (lit.: "sheath or pod")—in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Colombia it is a commonly-used generic filler. For example: Esta vaina se dañó ("This thing broke down").
: It can also be used in phrases to denote any strong emotion. For example:
¡Vea la vaina!, can mean "Isn't that something!" (expressing discontent or surprise).
Esa vaina quedó muy bien (lit.: "That
vaina came up really well") would translate to "It turned out really well" (expressing rejoice or happiness) and
… .y toda esa vaina would translate to "… and all that crap."
: In the Dominican Republic it is commonly used in combination with other profanities to express anger or discontent. For example: "¡Que maldita vaina, coñazo!" meaning "Fuck, that's bullshit!" or "¡Vaina'el diablo coño!" which translates as "Damn, (this) thing (is) of the devil!" but would be used to refer to a situation as "fucking shit."
See also
Albur
Profanity
Spanish language
La Malinche
Portuguese profanity
Quebec French profanity
Finnish profanity
Latin profanity
Mat (language) - Russian sexual slang
Notes
References
Wegmann, Brenda & Gill, Mary McVey. Streetwise Spanish : Speak and Understand Everyday Spanish, McGraw-Hill, ISBN 0-07-146086-1.
Cabellero, Juan. Dirty Spanish: Everyday Slang from "What's Up?" to "F*%# Off!", Ulysses Press, ISBN 1-56975-659-7.
Hamer, Eleanor & Diez de Urdanivia, Fernando. The Street-Wise Spanish Survival Guide: A Dictionary of Over 3,000 Slang Expressions, Proverbs, Idioms, and Other Tricky English and Spanish Words and Phrases Translated and Explained, Skyhorse Publishing, ISBN 978-1-60239-250-2.
External links
Real Academia Española - Details pendejo and other slang in its dictionary
La página de la chingada - Different variations of chingar
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