Spanish profanity

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"Joder" redirects here. For the community in Nebraska, see Joder, Nebraska.



Many Spanish-language profanity words used in Mexico begin with the letter "p".[1]

References to sexual acts[edit]


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 and 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 de la chingada, literally "You are running very badly".
Soy chingón could mean in English "I rule" or "I'm the man", ¡No chingues! or (its euphemistic form) ¡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. Un chingadazo can refer to a blow, or a strong punch.
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. It has a similar meaning and usage as "bullshit".

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 and México, joder means either "to annoy" (no me jodas = "don't annoy me"), "to kid with someone" (no jodas = "no kidding") or "to have fun" (vamos a joder = "let's have fun") and is deemed mildly vulgar but not obscene. In Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, Peru, Dominican Republic and Panama, joder can be used as a vulgar substitute of the verbs to annoy, or to fool/mock or to do monkey business (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.
In Argentine slang, it means to be out of your mind, and also to be very amazed by something.
Comes from the verb mamar which means "to suckle" and is used metaphorically in reference to oral sex.
In Argentina, tirar la goma (lit.: "to throw the goma," see goma below) refers to fellatio.

References to male masturbation[edit]


Paja (lit.: "straw", used in farms for cattle and other animals to lie on): the expression hacerse/tirarse la/una paja is used in Spain, South America, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Colombia 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 (similar to the American English sense of a "jerk-off"). 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 (a "wrist stroke", from puño, meaning "wrist" or "fist") refers to the act of masturbation. It is an expression widely used in several Spanish-speaking regions and in the Philippines (where it is spelled punyeta). Over the centuries, it has become a more generalised interjection (¿Dónde puñeta estabas?/"Where the fuck have you been?"). Its also a Portuguese expression written as punheta. It is also a Northern Italian expression, written as pugnetta.

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 wank", 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 puñal, i.e., a "dagger"). Hacerse una puñeta means "to have a wank". 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! was a favorite expression of former pornstar Carmen Luvana, who frequently uttered it as an expression of intense feeling during sex scenes. Although American-born, Luvana was raised in Puerto Rico, where the expression is very common.

Other references to male masturbation[edit]

In Mexico, it has another meaning—"to create false hopes" or "to hallucinate". Hacerse una chaqueta mental ("to engage in mental masturbation") is similar to paja mental.

References to the male genitalia[edit]


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 balls or bollocks.









Carajo (lit.: "crow's nest," or, metaphorically, or a small cup of coffee[citation needed]) 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!.

In Argentina, the term "Vamos Carajo" was used in Quilmes advertising in advance of the 2014 FIFA World Cup [8] as a statement or cheer that an Argentine supporter would use to urge their team to victory.



The connotation of "far away place" is supposedly based on the name of the Cargados Carajos, which belong to Mauritius[citation needed]. Nationalistic chants commonly use the phrase: ¡Viva Cuba, carajo!, ¡Viva el Ecuador, carajo!, and ¡Viva el Perú, carajo!







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.








In Mexico it refers only to the penis; "Te voy a meter la verga" means "I'm going to insert my penis in you"; referring to somebody else, "Le metió la verga" o "se la metió" means "he fucked her" or "he fucked him" which may be the literal meaning, or more likely, it means that in a business, he got away with what he wanted for little money.

A common expression in Mexico is ¡Vete a la verga!, meaning "Get the fuck out of here!" In Mexico can be used as difficult or impossible: ¡Está de la verga!, "This is very difficult!"




In the United States, the variant "a la verga" or "a la ver" for short, is very common in northern New Mexico, and is used frequently as an exclamatory expletive.[citation needed]




Polla in Spain also means penis.

Oversized testicles as a marker of complacency[edit]

In Mexico, huevón is a pejorative term that usually translates as "slacker". In Mexico, 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 (often shortened to hueón or weón) 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 is a phrase commonly used among youth meaning "Don't even think about it" or "Absolutely not". In Mexico, Tenga huevos translates as "Have some balls". For example one can hear a Mexican say No corras, ten huevos which means "Don't run away, have some balls".

Other terms denoting male genitalia[edit]

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, whereas pinga is used elsewhere in the country.

Ecuador: bijama, huasamayete, casco de nazi, cabeza de gato, sin conciencia = dick.

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).[9]

References to the female genitalia[edit]

Concha / Chucha / Chocha[edit]





In Venezuela, chocha is also a type of round seed or a particular type of bird[11]



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 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 and some places in Cuba), 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.





In Chile it is criminal slang for paddy wagon.




It is often the diminutive of the name María del Refugio.

Other terms denoting female genitalia[edit]

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 the buttocks[edit]



In Chile, culo is considered offensive (as it sounds very much like culear); poto is used instead.








Other references to one's backside[edit]

References to scatological acts[edit]


Cagar also in Portuguese 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 and Cuba, 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 el copón ("I shit in the Ciborium"), 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!"). "Me cago en el coño de tu madre" (Lit: I shit in your mother's cunt) is the strongest offense among Cubans. In Cuba, to soften the word in social gatherings, the "g" is substituted by the "s". See below.


In Mexico City it may be used ironically to refer to a fortunate outcome: Te cagaste ("You really shat on yourself") or an unfortunate outcome such as Estas cagado meaning "you're fucked".





In Peru, irse a la mierda or estar hecho mierda can also mean "to be drunk as Hell." However, in Mexico, Cuba and Chile estar hecho mierda means to be very exhausted.





Homosexual Slurs[edit]




Some examples of the uses of this word are:

One important exception is Colombia,[citation needed] 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).[citation needed] as in Bucaramanga marica can also mean 'naive' or 'dull' you can hear sentences like "No, marica, ese marica si es mucho marica tan marica, marica", (Hey dude, that guy is such a fool faggot, boy) 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:



In Eastern Guatemala, it is used the term mamplor.


Other homosexual expressions[edit]



Attacks against one's character[edit]


Pendejo (according to the Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española, lit.: "a pubic hair'[14] is, according to the Chicano poet José Antonio Burciaga, "basically describes someone who is stupid or does something stupid."[14] Burciaga said that the word is often used while not in polite conversation.[14] It may be translated as "dumbass" or "asshole" in many situations, though it carries an extra implication of willful incompetence, or innocent gullibility that's ripe for others to exploit. The less extreme meaning, which is used in most Spanish speaking countries, translates more or less as "jackass." The term, however, has very highly 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).[citation needed]

Burciaga said that pendejo "is probably the least offensive" of the various Spanish profanity words beginning in "p," but that calling someone a pendejo is "stronger" than calling someone estúpido.[14] Burciaga said "Among friends it can be taken lightly, but for others it is better to be angry enough to back it up."[14]

In Mexico, "pendejo" most commonly refers to a "fool", "idiot" or "asshole". In Mexico there are many proverbs that refer to pendejos.[14]

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.[citation needed]

In South America pendejo is also a vulgar, yet inoffensive word, for children. It also signifies a person with a disorderly or irregular life.[citation needed] In Argentina the word refers to male children who try to act like they are adults.[14] The word, in Chile, Colombia, and El Salvador, can refer to a cocaine dealer or it can refer to a "fool."[14]

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.[citation needed]

In many regions, especially in Cuba, pendejo also means coward (with a stronger connotation), as in ¡No huyas, pendejo! "Don't run away, chicken-shit!" or "No seas pendejo!" ("Don't be such a coward!").[citation needed]

In South America it refers to a person regarded with an obnoxiously determined advancement of one's own personality, wishes, or views (a "smartass").[citation needed]

In Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, pendejo or pendeja refers to a child, usually with a negative connotation, like that of immaturity or a "brat"[citation needed]. Also, in Argentina, as "pendejo" literally means "pubic hair" it usually refers to someone of little to no social value.[citation needed]

In Peru, however, it does not necessarily have a negative connotation, and can just refer to someone who is clever and street-smart.[citation needed]

In the The Philippines, it is usually used to refer to a man(husband) whose wife(or partner) is cheating on him.


In Spain, this word is hardly ever used.[citation needed]

In the American film Idiocracy, Joe Bauers' idiot lawyer is named Frito Pendejo.

Burciaga says that the Yiddish word putz "means the same thing" as pendejo.[14]


Cabrón (lit.: "big goat" or "stubborn goat" - in the primitive sense of the word, "cabrón" is an adult male goat; "cabra" is an adult female 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).

"¡Chinga tu madre, cabrón!" in C major. About this sound Play .

The Mexican Spanish version is offensive as it means "asshole" and other insults in English. The seven-note musical flourish known as a shave and a haircut (two bits), commonly played on car horns, is associated with the seven-syllable phrase ¡Chinga tu madre, cabrón! (Fuck your mother, asshole!). Playing the jingle on a car horn can result in a hefty fine for traffic violation if done in the presence of police, or road rage if aimed at another driver or a pedestrian.[15] In Mexico, "cabrón" refers to a man whose wife cheats on him without protest from him, or even with his encouragement.


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 connotation 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.



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!". In Chile, however, "chulo" and "chula" always mean "vulgar".


Gilipollas (and rarely gilipolla) is a term used mostly in Spain and lacking an exact translation to English; the most frequent equivalents when translated in books, films other media are "jerk", "jackass", "douchebag", "asshole" or "buffoon" (in English), con (in French), and boludo or pendejo (in Latin American Spanish, see below).



Occasionally it may be used for people who appear to be unpleasant or stupid (without necessarily being either) out of extreme social ineptitude. Fictional character David Brent from "The Office" is a classical example. Gareth Keenan from the same series would fit the more usual acceptation of the word.










Main article: Güey (vulgar)






Gonorrea (lit. gonorrhea) is commonly used in Colombia to express strong contempt. For instance, it would be used to insult an unremorseful murderer, e.g.: Ese hombre 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, 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 (because of associations with pagan witchcraft). Chinga tu madre ("Fuck your mother") is considered to be 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 positive connotation, as in ¡Está de poca/puta madre! ("It's fucking awesome!").



Pinche has different meanings:

In Spain, the word refers to a kitchen helper.[1] It mainly means a restaurant chef assistant or a kitchen helper who helps cook the food and clean the utensils. Another meaning is used as an insult, as in pinche güey ("loser"), or to describe an object of poor quality, está muy pinche ("It really sucks").[citation needed] Many restaurants in Spain have the name "El Pinche", to the great amusement of Mexican and Chicano tourists.[1]


In Puerto Rico pinche simply refers to a hairpin, while pincho has the same meaning in Dominican Spanish.[citation needed]


In Mexico it is also a derogatory name for someone who is stingy: "El es muy pinche." ("He is very stingy.").[citation needed]

Attacks against fornicators[edit]



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. "De puta madre" is an idiomatic phrase generally meaning "(This is) fucking great!" and can be used in both a direct and ironic manner.[citation needed]

It is also widely used in the Philippines, where it also generally means "whore". The phrase Putang ina mo is a contraction of the Tagalog Puta ang ina mo, meaning "Your mother is a whore."[citation needed]

In Chile it is also used to display annoyance or disappointment like "Puta...el plan no resulto" means "Damn...the plan didn't work"

Hijo de puta[edit]

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 Spanish, 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 (Laputa: Castle in the Sky) 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. The 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. There was also a Japanese car with the same name: the Mazda Laputa.

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"). In Colombia the word is emphasized by adding the word doble or triple (double or triple) as a prefix, as in triplehijueputa.

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 (hence it can be use in superlative as putísima/o). 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 (fucking great) time." It can be also ironic: De puta madre, ¿ahora qué hacemos? "Bloody brilliant (or fucking great). What are we supposed to do now?"

In the Dominican Republic, the phrase Tu maldita madre! ("Your damned mother") is used instead.


A puto (literally "male prostitute"[16]) is also a derogatory word for a homosexual male[1] (this usage is present in Don Quixote). It is perhaps the most offensive word referring to a homosexual male in Spanish, but is sometimes used by members of the gay community to refer to themselves, as a form of reappropriation (similar to the use of "bitch" between English-speaking women or among some homosexuals).[citation needed]

In other places, 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).[citation needed] In Puerto Rico puto or palgo may refer to a womanizer.[citation needed] In the Philippines, however, the term is unoffensive as it is used instead to refer to rice muffins, q.v..[citation needed]

During the 2014 World Cup, there was controversy about Mexican fans' use of puto. They stated that they used it to mean "coward" rather than as a gay slur directed at the opposing team's players.[17]

Less-offensive uses of puto/puta[edit]

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!"[citation needed]

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!").[citation needed]

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!"[citation needed]

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.[citation needed]

The verbal form putear could mean: "piss off", "harass", "mistreat", "tease", "beat up".[citation needed]


Zorra can be used as a synonym of puta in the same way that hija/o de zorra can be used instead of hija/o de puta. Zorra in Spanish translates as (female) fox, and the name is used mainly because female foxes are known to be promiscuous, and in some places because foxes are associated with certain places, like England. For example in the northwest of Spain, where English pirates like Francis Drake tried to attack and pillage several times, the expression zorro or zorra is also used to refer to someone that can betray you, and hijo de zorra is used more often than hijo de puta.

Other attacks against fornicators[edit]

In Mexico, it may be a playful reference to any sexually attractive woman.
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").

Other attacks against one's character[edit]

Profanity related to religion[edit]

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.[citation needed]


Hostia literally means a sacramental host, but in Spain and the Caribbean and Malta (whose natives speak Maltese, a language heavily influenced by Romance languages) it also has profane connotations:

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.
It is 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."
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?."

Fictional character Malcolm Tucker would exemplify the first three items of the definition.

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.


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.

Minced oaths for mala leche include mala idea or mala baba (lit.: "bad drool").


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: Más 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[edit]

Perhaps unique to a number of Romance languages, with the only possible exception of Italy, are the openly scathing remarks directly aimed at Catholic iconography or Catholic rites. Note that many of these blasphemous expressions are more severe in Latin America than in Spain, as many countries in Latin America contain more practicing Catholics than Spain. Many of them involve acts of, such as cagar, "to shit", e.g.:

It is considered offensive when combined 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!")
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!").

There are some creative variations, usually involving the 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 Papa ("I take a shit into the Pope's mouth"), 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."

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:[citation needed]

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 swearwords 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[19][20] or the numerous possible bestemmie (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[citation needed] 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 and ethnic derogatives[edit]

Other terms[edit]



See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b c d e f Gladstein and Chacón (editors) 39.
  2. ^ "Chingar," Diccionario de la lengua española, Real Academia Española (Spanish)
  3. ^ DRAE, follar1, Der. del lat. follis, fuelle, Soplar con el fuelle.
  4. ^ La Ficha Pop, La Cuarta, 31 October 2006.
  5. ^ Alvarez Catalunya Alimentos Selectos & Ylos Diseño páginas web Tiendas Virtuales. "Esparrago Cojonudo 8-12 frutos—Lata 850 Grs—Tienda Gourmet Delicatessen". Retrieved 2 March 2010. 
  6. ^
  7. ^
  8. ^ "Publicidad QUILMES Mundial 2014 - Vamos Carajo". 
  9. ^
  10. ^
  12. ^
  13. ^ Peter Aggleton; E. Antonio de Moya; Rafael García (1999). "Chapter 7: Three Decades of Male Sex Work in Santo Domingo". Men Who Sell Sex: International Perspectives on Male Prostitution and HIV/AIDS. London, U.K.: UCL Press Ltd. p. 128. ISBN 1-85728-862-9. Retrieved 14 June 2014. 
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gladstein and Chacón (editors) 40.
  16. ^ RAE entry for "puto"
  17. ^ "FIFA Looking Into Possible Use of Gay Slur by Mexican Fans". The New York Times. June 20, 2014. 
  18. ^
  19. ^ Rowland, Ingrid (2010)Giordano Bruno p.280
  20. ^ Ruffino, Giovanni (1998) Atti del XXI Congresso internazionale di linguistica e filologia romanza p.115
  21. ^ Fitch, Roxana (2006) [ panchito]
  22. ^ Fitch, Roxana (2006) [= guachupino]
  23. ^ Fitch, Roxana (2006)[ payoponi]


Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]