List of Spanish expressions in common English

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Here are some words or phrases from the Spanish that are sometimes used in English slang, but have not entered the standard lexicon. There is also a list of English words of Spanish origin.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Contents

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Top of page — See also — External links

[edit] A

  • Adiós – bye
  • Agua – water
  • Amigo/a – friend (male/female)


[edit] B

  • Buenas noches – good night
  • Buenas tardes – good afternoon
  • Bueno/a – nice, good (Used in a Spanish sentence this comes before the word is it describing unlike other adj.)
  • Buenos días – good morning (lit. good day)

[edit] C

  • Caliente – hot
  • Cantina – bar
  • Caramelo – caramel
  • Carne – meat (as in carne asada)
  • Casa – house (as in Mi casa es su casa, literally "My house is your house." Used to make a guest feel comfortable.)
  • Cerveza – Beer
  • Cinco – five
  • Cojones or Cahonies is used as a (vulgar) slang term often meaning “balls” or “testicles” often related to chutzpah or courage or the lack thereof, meaning cowardice.
  • Cómo? – "What?" (lit. How?)
  • Cómo estás? – "How are you?"
  • Cómo te fue? – "How'd it go?" (ex: Cómo te fué el fin de semana? - How was your weekend?)
  • Cómo te va? – "How's it going?" (ex: Cómo te va el trabajo? - How's work going?)
  • Con – with
  • Costa (lit. "coast") – a resort specialized in sun and beach tourism.
  • Cuatro – four (as in cuatro, a musical instrument with four strings)

[edit] D

  • De – of
  • Del/De la – of the
  • Dinero – money
  • Donde? – Where (usually an object or person)
  • Dos – two
  • Dulce de leche – caramel sauce
  • Desperado – outlaw (pseudo-Spanish alteration of the obsolete noun desperate)

[edit] E

  • El Dorado (lit. the golden one) – a mythical golden city
  • El Niño (lit. the boy child - referring to the Christ child) – a major temperature fluctuation in the tropical Pacific Ocean, so named because it often started around Christmas time near Peru
  • Entre la espada y la pared (Between the sword and the wall); used in same way as "Between a rock and a hard place."

[edit] F

  • Fiesta – party (the meanings of fiesta festival and holiday are standard English)
  • Flan – Spanish dessert custard

[edit] G

  • Gracias – thank you
  • Grande – large
  • Gringo – North American person (from the United States, regardless of race)

[edit] H

  • Hacienda – a ranch-style country home
  • Hasta la vista – see you later
  • Hasta mañana – see you tomorrow
  • Hola – hello


[edit] L

  • Loco – crazy

[edit] M

  • Machete – a large broad-bladed knife used as a cutting tool or weapon
  • Madre – mother
  • Mañana (lit. "tomorrow") – I'll do it later.
  • Mano – hand, but in English it is mostly used in reference to a fight (see mano-a-mano)
  • Mano a mano (lit. "hand to hand") – a confrontation with cooperation
  • Matador – bullfighter (lit. killer)
  • Me gusta ... – I like ... (lit: "it pleases me") (ex: Me gusta la cerveza - I like beer)
  • Mi casa es su casa – (lit: my house is your house) – make yourself welcome
  • Muchacho – young man, but also male help
  • Mucho – a lot, a lot of (as in Bésame Mucho)
  • Muy – very

[edit] N

  • No comprende – Do(es) not understand (but in Spanish it corresponds to the 3rd person of the verb comprender; no comprendo is lit. I don't understand.)
  • No problema – misspoken form of "No problem" (correct term is no hay problema in Spanish), often misspoken by English speakers as "No problemo"
  • Número uno – Number one


[edit] P

  • Padre – Roman Catholic priest (its main meaning in Spanish is "father")
  • Pendejo – a stupid person; an asshole
  • Piñata – a game using a colorful suspended candy-and-toy-filled container that children try to break open with a stick
  • Pícaro – hardened rogue; star of the picaresque novel
  • Piñón – pine nuts
  • Plaza (lit. "square") – a public square
  • Poncho – a garment made of cloth or other material that has a hole in the middle for the head. In Mexico, is Sarape
  • Pronto (lit. "soon") – immediately
  • Pueblo (lit. "village" or "people"/"populace") – the distinctive towns of the Pueblo people, tribes of Native Americans.
  • Puerto – port as in a harbor, not the wine

[edit] Q

  • Qué? – "What?"
  • Qué pasa? – "What's going on?"
  • Qué tal? – "What's up?" (literally: how are things?)
  • Qué te pasó? – "What happened to you?"
  • Queso – cheese

[edit] R

[edit] S

  • Salsa – a spicy Mexican-style usually tomato-based sauce (in Spanish, any kind of sauce or gravy), also a style of Latin music or dancing
  • Sangría – a wine cooler drink.
  • Señor – Mr. or Sir (El Señor being "The Lord")
  • Señorita – ("Miss", dim. of Señora – "Mrs.") unmarried girl or woman
  • Sierra (lit. "saw") – a mountain range
  • Siesta – a nap
  • Sombrero – a very large-brimmed hat (in Spanish, it refers to any kind of hat)
  • Salud! – "Cheers" (a toast) or "Bless you" (after a sneeze) (lit. Health)

[edit] T

  • Tamal – mixture of meat, peppers, and spices, wrapped in corn meal dough and corn husks, then steamed (Spanish grammatical singular of "tamales")
  • Taco – A shell made of cornmeal fill with meat, cheese and/or vegetables
  • Tapas (lit. "covers") – finger food. Im Mexico is Botana
  • Toreador or torero – bullfighter
  • Tres – three (as in the Cuban instrument of three strings)

[edit] U

  • un/una – "A" as indicating one of something (ex: Un coche - A car, Una ventana - A window)
  • uno – one, as the number
  • unos/unas – "some" indicating a number of something that has finite quantities (ex: Unos carros - some cars) - See "algunos/algunas" for "some" relating to things that do not come in finite quantities (like water, food, feelings, etc)

[edit] V

  • Vamos – let's go (also lit. We go) (alt: ¿Nos vamos? Shall we go?)
  • Vámonos – let's go, or come on
  • Vaquero – cowboy (cf. "buckaroo")

[edit] W

  • Wop – insult for olive-skinned people (from guapo – "pimp"[1], now "handsome" in Spain and "brave" in Spanish America, ultimately from Latin vappa "brigand", passed to American English through Neapolitan guappone, "bravado man")

[edit] Y

  • Ya era hora – It's about time! (in Spain with the meaning "you have come!" when somebody is late, or when something takes too long, it can be a bit impolite).
  • Yo quiero – I want (popularized by the "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" advertising campaign)

[edit] Z

[edit] Numbers

1-15

  • 1 – Uno
  • 2 – Dos
  • 3 – Tres

[edit] References

  1. ^ Diccionario Crítico Etimológico Castellano e Hispánico vol. III, Joan Corominas, José A. Pascual, Editorial Gredos, 1989, ISBN 84-249-1365-5

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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