Top 10 Spanish swear words

Top 10 Spanish swear words

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The Spaniards have an alarmingly rich vocabulary of swear words and vulgarities, making them one of the most verbally expressive people in the world. It’s really hard not to hear a full sentence with anything erm… crude. Mind you, I adore the Spanish language, combined with exaggerated hand gestures, it’s full of vigor and emotions. The Spaniards for one, always captivate my heart with their passionate language.

Unlike the Latin Americans who tend to be a tad bit more conservative in their language, the Spaniards use palobrotas in their daily conversations. But before you start stringing sentences with a long list of cusses, bear in mind that without the correct usage, you might just end up offending the more refined ones, or end up with a bunch of giggling audience.

Let me sum up the top swear words most frequently used in Spain. Without them, life wouldn’t be this colorful or should i say- funtastic.

1. Joder! (hho-DErr)

The first Spanish word I’d learnt- it literally translates to ‘fuck’, but perhaps used more commonly than in English. You forgot to bring your phone out, Joder! They’re not showing your favourite TV show anymore, Joder! Damn you have to wake up early tomorrow, Joder! It’s just part and parcel of everyday’s life in Spain. It’s used in many power-packed sentences like ‘Que te jodan! (Fuck you!)’.

2. Mierda! (mi-err-da)

This literally means ‘shit’, and is the most lightweight of all these swear words. It makes a perfect combination with many words to give a better impact, such as ‘Come mierda! (A shit-eater!)’.

3. Gilipoyas (hhi-li-PO-yas)

Used frequently to describe bastards, the word ‘Gilipoyas’ is simply served as a retorting cuss. When someone pisses you off, or even teases you, you would call him a ‘Gilipoyas’. Translated literally, ‘gili’ comes from a latin word meaning ‘son’, ‘poya’ means a dick.

4. Qué Cabrón! (kehh cabrON)

In reality, ‘cabrón’ refers to a big male goat, with giant horns. As the old Spanish saying goes, a man whose wife is cheating on him is called a ‘cabrón’ i.e. his horns are growing. So everyone started using ‘Que Cabrón!’(What a bastard!), to swear at others. It’s quite a mild cuss, and often used just as a sarcastic remark instead of a real curse.

5. Los cojones! (los co-hho-nehs)

The Spanish men are known as ‘Machotes’ (macho men who are proud of their balls), and so, besides the toros (bulls) and the corridas(running of the bulls), they love to show their masculinity by adding the word ‘Cojones’ (literally means ‘testicals’) to their colorful language. It tends to be used more like the word ‘Bullshit!’ in English, in occasions when someone is trying to give you some crappy excuse, you would respond with ‘Los Cojones!’

6. Me cago en todo lo que se menea!

My personal favourite of all. It is long yet powerful! It cracks me up when I hear Alberto chanting this long cuss while driving. It actually means ‘I shit on everything that moves.’ (strangely unvulgar) ‘Me cago en…’ is a very commonly used cuss, and can be combined with anything and everything that comes to mind, like ‘Me cago en Dios’ (..on God) or ‘Me cago en tus muertos’ (..on your dead relatives).

7. La madre que te parió!

Top on the list of most frequently used curse would be this. It literally means, ‘the mother who gave birth to you!’ It is used in the same way as ‘motherfucker’ in English. Usually used as part of a sentence eg. ‘Me cago en la madre que te parió!’ (I shit on the mother who gave birth to you.), it has the same effects as dropping a huge bomb!

8. Hijo de puta (e-hho-deh-PU-tah)

Translated to the English swear word, ‘son of a bitch!’ It’s used in the exact same way as English, except ten times the frequency. It is however mostly used to tease someone, especially as a sarcastic or envious remarks. Your friend gets a promotion – hijo de puta! Your brother is travelling around the world- hijo de puta! He just bought a 40inch plasma TV- hijo de puta!

9. Tonto del culo

Slightly milder than all the previous curses, this translates to ‘an idiot of the ass’, and used to refer to how stupid/silly someone can be. It’s useful in all occasions.

10. Puta madre (poo-tah madre)

Literally meaning ‘fucking mother’, it can be used to curse but can also be used positively. As a form of exaggeration, it can be used to describe how good something is. Eg. ‘Esta fiesta está de puta madre!’ (This is a fuckin good party!) ‘Puta madre!’ is often used to express great satisfaction, eg. ‘Barcelona won! de puta madre!

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March 19, 2009 · Culture, Languages, Life, Spain

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49 Responses to “Top 10 Spanish swear words”

alex ramirez on March 19th, 2009 4:05 pm

i like it but its the spanish way i think i should post u the 10 mexican ones and ull see we are not conservative at all cheers!!
Katie Parla on March 19th, 2009 10:31 pm

me cago en tus muertos is great. its like 'li mortacci tua' in italian. what a strangely pagan meets catholic thing to say!
Antonio Alonso on March 20th, 2009 11:43 pm

Nellie, i must add to the previous comment that mexicans, venezuelans, cubans!, peruvians! and many other latinamerican nationals do swear also quite often. See you soon!
Longtail it up on April 10th, 2009 1:06 pm

That’s some excellent information you’ve gathered on , but how do you find the time to gather it all??
admin on April 13th, 2009 11:50 pm

hey Wickedfire, thanks for the compliments. I write whenever I get the time, and yes this blog has taken alot of my time and effort, but it’s well worth it!
Yvonne! on June 2nd, 2009 1:27 am

There is a Venezuelan one that reads "ma ma way-vo" which means "suck my dick" hahahaha! My colleague taught me that.
abigailking on June 10th, 2009 1:42 pm

Right. Now I am ready to live in Spain. I was getting bored of verb tables but this has reinvigorated my enthusiasm for learning the language! Great post.
Jaun Millalonco on July 2nd, 2009 4:49 am

My first visit here, found the blog accidentally really, and I just wanted to say I’ve enjoyed my visit and had some good reads while here
Juan
BeBe on July 23rd, 2009 3:23 am

Alex and Antonio – I don't think he meant that they don't have a lot of bad words in other Latin American countries, but in Spain, they say these things in front of their mothers and grandmothers, for the most part w/o offending.

I'm particularly fond of "me cago en la leche" and "me cago en el mar"
stephen roush on August 18th, 2009 5:04 pm

Wow thats sweet I sorta like spanish and know I can make some new stuf=dent in my spanish class cuss the spanish teacher out.
stephen roush on August 18th, 2009 5:06 pm

I'm terrible at typing so the know is now and the stuf=dent is student
elzbbz on September 24th, 2009 11:33 am

This is excellent i'm learing Sapnish atm and it seems i've missed out some of the best bits : )
This is ace thanks, anymore? xx
damo on October 17th, 2009 9:43 pm

i have been learning spanish for some time and only knew hijo de puta and i think pajero translates to wanker but im not 100% sure. thank you for this blog i now can now swear in spanish which for me is vital in the persuit of fluency. do these swear words apply to latin america, argentina uruguay ect ect?
Nellie on October 17th, 2009 11:50 pm

hey damo thanks for the comment. Yeh these swear words apply to Latin America as well, but they're kinda strong when you use it there. Let's say eg. in Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia, if you use these cusses, you might look like a total jerk. But whereas in Spain, you could use them anywhere and everywhere (even in front elderlies). Enjoy!
Nellie on October 17th, 2009 11:50 pm

Thanks, let me think of more interesting Spanish slangs for the next post!
damo on October 18th, 2009 1:35 pm

thank you so much, i have some friends from argentina/uruguay and they know most swear words in english, they're gunna be made up when i start with the vulgerness in spanish haha i carnt wait……thanx again
How to Shout at your Child… the Right Way | DADWAGON on November 5th, 2009 11:41 pm

[...] playdates, poorly chosen words. I like to mix it up, so the kids don’t grow up thinking that Spanish is the language of angry people, or German is only spoken by people who can’t stand girls who [...]
yvonne on November 7th, 2009 12:27 am

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahha
Phreqe on November 20th, 2009 5:12 pm

Great now i can cuss out the guy who does my yard at 5am!!11
Rju on November 29th, 2009 8:15 pm

I adore the English language instead. Combined with exaggerated hand gestures, tasty bad words and people shouting it is an expressive language
Spanish Fan on December 2nd, 2009 4:10 am

I am now prepared next time I am in a situation where I need a Spanish curse word. This is a great list. I enjoyed reading all of the descriptions that went with each. Not only did I learn new words, but now I know a little bit more about them and when to use them.
nicole on December 3rd, 2009 3:05 pm

jajaja ,, algunos de estos comentarios son graciosos
Rent in Barcelona on December 10th, 2009 8:23 am

I can't for the life of me think why they don't teach us these things in school, the kids would be so much more eager to learn.There's just something so special about being able to swear in a foreign language, In English, the simple nature of curse words makes me take them less seriously, almost using them as adjectives and mostly unaware that I might actually sound more aggressive than I mean to.Then again I swear enough in English for about seven languages so I guess i should refrain from obscenities in Spain—at least until my Spanish improves or i might find myself in a real tricky situation.
Ana on December 10th, 2009 1:55 pm

some more,(we use them a lot).
Que coñazo! (something very boring)
Cojonudo (something very good)
Manda huevos….(uf difficult!!mmm "oh boyy")
and finally…….. Que le den por culo a las putas corridas de toros!
(that means, I don´t actually like toros, thank you) ::))))
Nellie on December 11th, 2009 10:17 am

hey thanks Ana, those are really useful too. I particularly like the 'que le den por culo..'!
mamamia on December 11th, 2009 11:01 pm

y que me deciis de la expresion "a chuparla",famosa desde que Maranoda la usó para referirse a los periodistas que le amargaban la vida.
Top 10 Top 10s… « Back Towards The Locus on December 24th, 2009 2:28 am

[...] Wildjunket – “Top Ten Spanish Swear Words“ [...]
Specialist! on January 13th, 2010 6:48 pm

I am a spanish swear word expert and you forgot the word Hola! I say Hola to whoever I see, and I'm so excited to use all the new words I learned on here! YAY! for spanish swear words! LUDAS MORAINE FLUE!
marta on January 17th, 2010 9:23 pm

like in spanish, italian has many similar bad swear words which offend all your families from your mam to your sister to your dad or son, not that nice isn'it? but it spanish they sound better to me. i actually have a lot of spanish friends and my favourite in absolute is also "Me cago en todo lo que se menea!" or whatever altervatives eh eh
Michael Brown on January 27th, 2010 9:42 am

Not sure how to feel about this list! Could be very dangerous if talking to the wrong person but on the other hand may be a bit of fun. I have heard that the Spaniards don’t swear as much as other European countries such as England and especially Italy

I like the big male goat one which seems like it can be used as around close friends. I think the others could only be used in a bar watching football or even better at a game. I can imagine being very popular with Barca supporters if I started calling the Real Madrid striker a "La madre que te parió!"
olivia on January 27th, 2010 10:27 pm

greatt… now i can understand what the fuck heads at my table are saying about me=)
That girl. on January 30th, 2010 2:10 am

This is awesome.
In class yesterday, a friend of mine called me a 'fea perra' to my face, thinking that I didn't know as much spanish as I did.
(It was really an idiotic remark. I'm taking Spanish 1. We cover adjectives in like the first week.)
Now I have plenty of comebacks to whip back at the bastard. :] or, Gilipoya. :]
admin on February 1st, 2010 5:36 pm

LOL That’s funny, thanks for sharing. Woo ‘fea perra’ is nasty – time to show her who’s the boss!
admin on February 1st, 2010 5:45 pm

Yeh you’d probably be treated like a bro if you said that. The Spaniards probably don’t appear too vulgar, since cuss words are just part of their daily life – like “La madre que te parió, this paella tastes awesome!” or “Cabrón, I haven’t see you in such a long time!’ So the way they use it is really quite different from how the Brits would, not too sure about Italians though.
Travel photography on February 2nd, 2010 9:05 am

So funny list, but it's sad that one of the most remarkable things about spanish be the swear words. We can be very respectful too. Really!!
harlie on February 11th, 2010 10:33 am

exelente
Anna on February 15th, 2010 6:20 pm

This insults only work in Spain or Mexico, you have very different insults depending on the country. I'm from Argentina and we don't swear like that …
admin on February 16th, 2010 5:35 pm

hey Anna, thanks for the input. Yes that’s true; actually my list of swear words is from Spain – a result of my Spanish friends who’ve been teaching me swear words since I started learning the language. Why don’t you teach us some Argentinean ones?
hj,jhk on March 8th, 2010 2:55 pm

chuparme la verga…cara de concha
cheapest mbt shoes on March 19th, 2010 6:53 am

So funny list, but it's sad that one of the most remarkable things about spanish be the swear words. We can be very respectful too. Really!!
admin on March 22nd, 2010 4:05 am

Oh definitely – Spaniards are very civilized and polite actually. I didn’t mean to talk only about your swear words, but you gotta admit, your vocabulary of cuss words is huge!
manu on April 7th, 2010 5:19 pm

hay muchas mas palabrotas o expresiones que podeis analizar, como:

- lame culos
- mierdoso
- capullo
- cara jaula
- ji ome!!!
- chupona
- peaso de zorra
- mamona
- etc, etc….
admin on April 7th, 2010 7:34 pm

Como mola! Muchas gracias Manu por compartir mas palabrotas!
Andi on April 29th, 2010 10:22 pm

Haha, I love this!!! Can't wait to use some of these with my friends!
chuck on July 5th, 2010 8:46 am

vete a la mierda pendejo hijuemilputas………………………….see i'm from latin america and i'm swearing….lol.
admin on July 5th, 2010 11:47 pm

lol thanks, you’ve proven the point
Al Galvis on August 27th, 2010 2:42 am

I have been teaching Spanish for 16 years; in 2009 I created a short tutorial after researching what was the best and more practical for beginners and intermediate levels; I did not include any cuss expressions. While they may be interesting for advanced students; they give the impression the user is a low brow, uneducated person (not in Spain). Its use its touchy, needing timely ocassions.
Kayliegh on August 28th, 2010 10:35 am

ah personas miran realmente palabras arriba sólo españolas de palabrota? Dios que acaban de jajajajajaja de idioma de da de aprender
tu puta madre on September 3rd, 2010 12:54 am

Chinga tu pinche whey!!!!