26 Spanish Words That Don’t Technically Exist But We Use Them Everyday
Being bilingual is a blessing – and confusing. What happens when you can’t exactly translate a word? You make up your own. Here are a few we’ve spanglishized and use all the time…
1. Chequear – to check something, like a reference.
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If you chequé the dictionary you will not find chequear.
2. Taggear – to tag someone on social media.
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Seriously? Taggear is becoming a word? What’s next, “posteando” statuses?
3. Yarda – a yard or lawn.
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“Mami, Luis and his friends won’t let me play en la yarda.”
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4. Flirtear – to flirt.
Credit: Orange is the New Black / Netflix / tell-me-that-you-need-me / Tumblr
It’s been so long since some flirted with me, but I’m pretty sure that isn’t the right word.
5. Estoquieando – stalking, you know, like most of us do.
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We also use this to talk about estoqueando on Instagram.
6. Marqueta – the market.
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This is lazy. Mercado is shorter and it’s umm the proper word.
7. Parquear – to park, usually like a boss.
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I’m almost there. Estoy parqueando.
READ: Nothing Scared You More As a Kid Than Hearing Your Parents Say These Things to You
8. Chance (chan sey) – chance
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If you can’t make up a word just give the English word a Latino pronunciation. That usually does the trick.
9. Bloque – a neighborhood block.
Credit: Mr. Rogers Neighborhood / PBS / permanentgoodbye / Tumblr
If only we all lived en el mismo bloque as Mr. Roger, we’d all have proper vocabulary. I’m just saying…
10. Bildin – a building.
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Or edificio. It isn’t that hard people.
11. Lonche – lunch.
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Abuelita: ¿Qué comiste para la lonche hoy, mija?
Me: Nada. And when did you learn lonche?
12. Mopear – to mop.
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I don’t even care that this word exists, tbh. Nothing can make this chore anymore fun. Call it what you want…like torture.
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13. Lockear – to lock.
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Because atrancar is so 2014.
14. Carpeta – a carpet.
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Wait? Haven’t we been making fun of people for making words Spanish by adding an ‘o’ to the end? When did we become just like them?
15. Vaquear – to vacuum.
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This is like mopear. I don’t care unless the word gets rid of the damn task all together.
16. Janguear – To Hang Out
Wanna janguear tomorrow with me?
17. Tanquear – To Put Gasoline In the Car
Tanquear, from “Tank”. Because saying “ I’m going to put gasoline in my car” is just too long.
18. Chores – Shorts
For some reason it just sounds cooler!
19. Gugliar – To Google
Come on, there had to be a Spanish word to Google!
20. Watchear – To Watch.
You can watchear TV or watchear your kids. So handy.
21. Frizado – FrozenI guess you could say “congelado”, but frizado is a bit shorter.
22. El Shopin – The shopping MallLet’s go shopping to the shopin’ !
23. Nintendo – Basically any console.
Technically, Nintendo exists but it is used incorrectly 90% of the time. Nintendo = Nintendo. PS3 = Nintendo. Gameboy = Nintendo.
24. Mixtear – To Mix
The word in Spanish is Mezclar , but mixtear is the perfect “mixt”
25. Catsup – Ketchup
Can you please put some catsup in my jo do (hot dog)?
26. Draggear – To Drag
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Because “arrastrar” is so difficult to pronounce! Arrrrrastrar.
