The Spaniards have an alarmingly rich vocabulary of swear words and vulgarities – ranging from one-word cusses to full-sentence chants like ‘me cago en todo lo que se menea!‘. When speaking to a typical Spanish man, it’s almost strange not to hear a full sentence with anything erm… crude. Mind you, I adore the Spanish language: combined with expressive hand gestures, it’s full of vigor, passion and emotions. The Spaniards for one, have always captivated my heart with their sultry linguistic demeanours.
If you get to know the Spaniards and learn Spanish well enough, you’ll come to observe that they tend to use palabrotas (cusses) openly in their daily conversation. Words like ‘coño’ (cunt) don’t contain extremely vulgar connotations, and so are used commonly by most people here in Spain.
In comparison, the Latin Americans tend to be a tad bit more gentle in their language. 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- de puta madre!
1. Joder! (hho-DErr)
The first Spanish word I’d learnt- this literally translates to ‘fuck’, but perhaps used more commonly than in English. For example: You forgot to bring your phone out, Joder! They’re not showing your favourite TV show anymore, Joder! Damn I have to wake up early tomorrow, Joder! It’s just part and parcel of daily 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. Gilipollas (hhi-li-PO-yas)
Used frequently to describe bastards, the word ‘Gilipollas’ is simply served as a retorting cuss. When someone pisses you off, or even teases you, you would call him a ‘Gilipollas’. Translated literally, ‘gili’ comes from a latin word meaning ‘son’.
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. Everyone then 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 packs a punch. Whenever I hear my husband chant this long cuss while driving, I crack up. It literally 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!
In my personal opinion, this would be top on the list of the most frequently used curse. 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 for example: ‘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(yi-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 almost ten times the frequency. It is however mostly used to tease someone, especially as a sarcastic or envious remark. Your friend gets a promotion – hijo de puta! Your brother is traveling 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 it’s 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 is commonly used to describe how good something is. For example: ‘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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You forget the gipsy courses…
¡Ojalá te veas como un chorizo, colgado y con las tripas por fuera!, or ¡Ojalá te veas como una bombilla, colgado y con las tripas ardiendo!, or my favourite: ¡Ojalá te tragues un paraguas cerrado y lo cagues abierto!
Spanish is a very rich language, I understan that it is very hard to foreigners.
Buenos días!
In Spain, the first ninja turtles movie ends with the quartet met with Master Splinter and he says "Siempre habia querido decir esto… de puta madre!" ("I always wanted to say this … fucking mother!") while all hands high "4". Marked a generation ^^.
Sorry for my english, que cojones, que os jodan xD
This is fucking good!! XD XD
Brilliant, man!
We've got such a rich language for insulting someone, foreigner football players who have ever played in Spain keep on insulting in Spanish
Of course, much better than other south american insults…
Just one "but" it is gilipollas, with LL instead of Y.
You, writer!
First of all, I have no idea if you're a fucking writer, journalist or whatever. But the least you could do is write correctly the words you're talking about. For instance, it's not "palobrotas" but "palAbrotas", since it comes from the word "palabra" which means "word".
Second of all, you've no idea in which context these "palAbrotas" are used. The examples you're giving are poor and vague.
Third of all, I have to admit that you wrote something which is true that is exactly why I don't understand the whole point in writing this piece of "mierda" (you already know what that means, don't you?). British, Irish and Italian people swear a lot more than Spaniards do, so… why don't you write about them and this time you try to write a good article?
¡Que te den! (Go fuck yourself!)
Oh, and it's not "gilipoyas" but "gilipoLLas", gilipollas!
Some extras from a spaniard:
Carajo (Dick)–>Used when you are impresed or surprised. Ej: This car has 1234 hp. ¡Carajo!.
¿Que carajo?–> Much like what the fuck
coñazo–> From coño, wich means vagina. Used for boring things. For example going to see a romantic movie and then shopping is the perfect example of a coñazo.
cojonudo–>(cojon=testuculus) Good thing, used like awesome. For example going to see last Rambo movie an then to a paintball fight is a "cojonudo" plan.
y un cojón–>used like "no way". ej, give me your car. "y un cojón".
They are not swearing but people also find funny:
cuesta: when the road goes upwards, is the same word as "cost", how expensive is a thing.
Cariño: "honey" used when calling your significant other, has the same root as "caro"= expensive.
Comeme los huevos como si fuese un racimo de uvas ( Eat my balls like a bunch of grapes)
Pasa mas leche por tu madre que por central lechera asturiana ( "central lechera asturiana" is a milk brand, leche is milk , use for cum too, so means that your mother eats more cum than a milk factory)
Que te den por culo ! ( fuck you up in the ass)
Pedazo maricon! ( Big gay)
It's spelled 'gilipollas'. Well, what should I expect, you can't even spell 'testicles' in your own language (your wrote 'testicals')
Woah… Greetings from Spain, great article ! But be careful, these words should be used only in a casual register. Of course they are not suitable in formal situations, or with people you don't know well, it is very easy to offend someone with that expressions.
See ya, guys !
soy español, y me cago en vuestra puta madre
Do you really think Spaniards talk shit like that all the time?
My parents are from Spain, I can speak Spanish perfectly and I spend half year in Spain, half year in the States and I can tell that they don't swear that often. Except for rude people, of course! But that happens everywhere!
The correct word is "Gilipollas", no Gilipoyas. You must investigate a litte bit more.
Ahh, I love my language. Spanish is the best for swearing, and if any one disagrees…
¡Que me coma las pelotas a botijillo!
Sorry:
Gilipollas es con dos eles no con “y”.
My english is poor, but i try:
gilipollas is whit “ll” not with “y”
Gilipoyas (y) is not correct.
Gilipollas is OK.
You can you see it i http://www.rae.es (Real Academia Española)
Thanks guys for the correction! I\’ll make the changes now!
Y una polla como la manga de un abrigo!
Hey Nelly, besides all the people saying “in my country/region we swear more” or “wo, you missed this one” the list is pretty cool! Actually a lot of my foreign friends tell me that I shouldn’t speak that bad when I speak english, but I guess I’m just too used to my mother tongue
Sólo una cosa en cuanto a la ortografía:
GilipoLLas: http://buscon.rae.es/draeI/SrvltGUIBusUsual?TIPO_…
Dick = PoLLa http://www.wordreference.com/es/translation.asp?t…
Ok, I'm spanish, some warnings: the use of these words is very tricky and they also change according to the region (hostia being popular in Barcelona and absolutely disgusting in other parts, converserly with mierda (shit), in general, the curse words form part of the culture so foreigners are not expected to use them and if they do so, usually sounds to us more unpolite than if it were a spanish person saying the same. Beware the reactions of spaniards when hearing you curse these words, most would laugh, but think you are really bad educated or too rough
There are a lot more than those, and I would like to add one I really like: ¡A tomar por culo!. I always laugh when I hear it… Its translation should be something similar to Fuck it! We use it when something someone's trying to do hasn't got the effect he/she wanted to have.
Examples: You explain your friend the directions he/she has to take while driving, but he/she does the opposite thing… ¡A tomar pot culo!
You are organizing some papers on a table, but forgot to close the window before starting and the wind takes all of them to the ground again… ¡A tomar por culo!
You're out with some friends, drinking beers, when you start feeling a bit tipsy and you see guy is staring at you, you think: ¡A tomar por culo, voy a hablar con él!
Enjoy our fantastic language!!!
LOs Españoles ponen tacos en todas las expresiones, no suelo hablar con palabrotas pero admito que somos muy mal habladores
Muy mal, muy mal, se escribe giliPOLLAS, no “giliPOYAS”. Un cero patatero en gramática, oiga usted.
Hay que ser gilipollas para escribir gilipollas con y.
Consiento que los españoles tienen un uso abusivo de vocabulario pero no creo que seamos los mayores cuando en la cultura americana los insultos están a la orden del dia tan solo hay que mirar la televisión americana o cualquier barrio que no sea el Upper east side de New York. Y aunque yo tenga este pensamiento no ando haciendo post sobre el uso despectivo del americano me parece despectiva y una manera muy fácil de generalizar, gran fallo en esta sociedad actual. Atentamente un español que no habla mal del todo.
hi! here an spanish getting this list bigger with a few more palabrotas (traduction: big words):
- chupamela: suck my dick
- huevos: mean eggs but also means nutballs. Its very used like "a lot" and pronunced harder with the "hu" like a "w" (webo). It takes me a lot: me cuesta un webo. its very informal. another: "tener los huevos de corbata"= to be scared… literally it means to have your nutballs as a tie.
- imbecil: very used…just the same meanning as tonto or gilipollas
- subnormal: another one… the prefijo "sub-" means under and normal doesnt need to be traduced…so it means retarded
-capullo:dont know where this comes from…its just like imbecil
cojones: again this means nutballs like the admin said. "me importa un cojon/mierda"= it minds me a nutball/shit" . "acojonar" = make someone get scared.
- ostia: is the name of that oblea that you can eat on the church but we use it as a…mmm i dont know how to say it. when you fight someone and you win you say "le meti una ostia" ostia = porrazo = golpe. you can also use it like mierda when you use it with puta. "ostia puta!"
umz…i think this would never end…i hope you enjoy it. adioooos cabroooneeesssss me cago en la puta que os pario mamonazos que os falta un herbor mongoloooosss aaaajajajajjaja me cago en vuestros muertos y en toda vuestra familia subnormales que me vais a comer la pollaaaa. Si os veo por la calle os parto la cara y me importa una mierda si venis todos juntos a por mi!! sabeis por que?? eh?? quereis saberlo??? POR QUE ME SEGUIRE CAGANDO EN VUESTRASS PUTAAS MADREEEEEESSSS UUAUAAAAHAHAJJAJAJAJAJJAJAAJAJJ
hi people in the spain there are a sentence that its very good: "Que te den por culo" is like if you said " you go to the shit" in spain hahahaha!!!!!
All I can say is that only unpolite and rude people swear like that. It is not as common as everybody thinks by reading this.
Cabron is a husband who beats his wife, nothing to do with what is written here. In a time it used to be word for bad people but, somehow for a very "macho man".
very important "me cago en tu puta madre"
very important "palabrotas" for women are:
guarra, zorra, puta: bitch.
calientapollas: a women who likes to put men hot, but they never fuck…just warming…
Muy bueno!!! pero solo te pongo una pega, ¡Los cojones!: sólo a una minoría le gusta los toros en España. pero el resto está perfecto y muy divertido
Hahaha i've laughed a lot with this. So true! (i'm Spaniard)
Actually I think you should create a full post about all the uses of "Cojones" because it's far from being only one — just as Puta Madre, it can be either good or bad.
When you let a place running without time: " me voy cagando leches "
yo me cago en todas vuestras putas madres (y muertos pisoteaos) porque sois unos gilipollas de mierda. Joder, pero qué mal me caéis todos. Iros a tomar por el puto culo
pretty accurate!
I'd say "Gili" means tonto in spanish. For example, if you say "Ese tío es un gil", you mean "That man is a moron".
Good list BTW, although ¡COÑO! is not listed
You are straightly alright about all, only a few precissions,
It is disputed, but “gili” is thought by many to come from ancient gypsy language, not Latin, but perfectly maybe Latin (filii > hili > gili). Further, a gilipollas is someone who is stupid (or have done any stupidity) and he/she is deeply conscious about it, making him/her unhappy. I think this nuance are not shared by any english word, as far as I know (not so much, of course).
“Hostia” is as common as “joder” (or even more, it depens on many matters), which literally means “(holy) host”. “Cagando hostias” (lit. shitting hosts over and over) means do something inmediatly, with no delay.
“Coño” (lit. cunt) is very common yet. In fact, it is somewhat Spaniards pronounced the punctuation marks, pronouncing the comma as “coño” or the dot as “joder”.
My favorite one is “me cago hasta en tu putísima madre” (I *even* shit all over your fucking / fucked mother).
Don’t forget “a tomar por culo” (go be assfucked), with a large range of meanings, from “very far, far away place” (“está a tomar por culo”, it is a fucking billion miles far) to “totally messed situation” (“a tomar por culo todo”), with the classical “vete a tomar por culo” (go be assfucked, i.e. fuck you).
Good post!
Oh, they are not just swear words, they are a way of living. i think that you can make a list of 40 or 50 swear words and even make a top ten different swear words in each spanish city. My fav is "que te den por culo" makes you feel fine when u're angry or makes a situation funny when u're being pissed by sb.
greets from spain!
besame el culo… kiss my buje
"Gilipollas" more likely comes from the greek – I have a whole theory on this subject: http://davidllada.com/blog/2011/01/27/gilipollas-…
I really enjoyed your post, specially being a Spaniard myself. In my region, Asturias, we even have another word for them: instead of "palabrotas", we say…. "cagamentos"
)
Cagamentos! It\’s the first time I\’m hearing that, interesting! So what other vulgarities do you frequently use in Asturias? I\’d love to do a post on the different swear words used in various Spanish regions.
We have a rich vocabulary in general, not only vulgarity words. Using swear words to speak is not elegant. Only we have to use to express better a bad felling but not frequently in normal use. Unfortunately, it is very common or acepted to say that words. Sometimes couse of the speaker don’t know express himself with another alternative words.
Note: “Gilipollas” is wrote with “ll” not with “y”.
Sinonimes of “gilipollas” are “imbécil”, “subnormal”, “retrasado”, “pringado”.
Excellent article!
You explained it very well! It´s not that people from South America and México don´t have as much bad words and nasty expressions as we have in Spain. We share a lot of them but we Spanish use them much more often. I have friends from Peru, Colombia, México, El Salvador, Panama … and they all get very surprised about how Spanish use these bad words for almost everything.
However I must warn you that it won´t be a good idea to say these three in front of your mother and it will be a real offense for most of grandfathers and grandmothers.
Me cago en Dios! – I have a shit in god!
Hostia! – Host!
Copón! – This is the large cup where the priest puts the hosts.
It´s also important that in the different communities of Spain we don´t use them the same. I´ll give you two examples.
In Andalucía is very common to hear the word Chocho! (Pussy!) Referring to a girl! And it´s ok for most of them. But don´t ever tell Chocho to a girl in Navarra or Basque Country because she will give you a good “hostia” (we also use these one for punch).
And as I said Me cago en Dios! is one of the strongest, but not for the Basque Country. They spend most of the day having a shit on god while in Andalucía is much more offensive.
And remember that in Spain your best friend is the biggest cabrón, hijo puta, maricón (gay), desgraciado (unlucky), malnacido (these means he is a very bad person), chupa poyas, retrasado (retarded), sopla gaitas (one of the good ways of calling him sucker). And you can remember that to him every time you believe he is forgetting about it (Which is about every 3 minutes).
hey Morte, great insights! Love how you Spaniards refer to your best friend as the biggest cabrón, hijo puta, maricón etc.
It never fails to make me laugh. My husband is from Granada – so you can imagine the amount of palabrotas I hear on a daily basis. It intrigues me even more than the palabrota you use differs according to which part of Spain you\’re from! That\’s true ingenuity. Which part of Spain are you from? I\’d love to hear more palabrotas from various regions in Spain. Cheers. 
Ooh, excelente, me he reído muchisimo. Al autor del post, te lo has currado mucho, todo bien explicado y con el significado correcto. Me gustaría recalcar que no todo el día estamos diciendo palabrotas eh, hablamos un poco mal, pero no somos tan maleducados… jajajaja
English translate by google
Ooh, excellent, I laughed a lot. The author of the post, I've carefully worked a lot, all well explained and the correct meaning. I would like to stress that not every day we are swearing eh, we talked a little bad, but we are not so rude … jajajaja
Regards!!!
Hola Fran! Muchas gracias por el comentario. La verdad me encantan las palabrotas españolas y la manera que las usáis. Claro, no sois maleducados, lo se.
Bueno, ya que este post os he hecho gracias, estoy pensando en escribir otro post relacionado a este tema. No te lo pierdas! Besos. 
I though the word "ostia" or "ostia puta" was widely used in Spain. At least where I used to live.
¡Está de puta madre!
There is an expression that, if you tell to somebody anywhere in the world, you will probably be killed by your target.
ME CAGO EN TU PUTA MADRE!!
This expression has something, I don't know what, that is very offensive. It means something like: I have a shit on you hooker mother.
Me cago en la leche puta!!! I shit in the fucking milk
bésame el culo – kiss my ass
Cuando te piden dinero (when someone ask you for money) Qué te crees que cago billetes de 50(euros)? What do u think? i dont shit 50 euros doughs.
Chúpamela!!(Suck (my dick)its used as "los cojones!!"
Vete a tomar por culo!! up your ass!!
Es mi mejor amigo. Es un hijo puta…He's my best friend , he's a motherfucker.(hijo puta as "awesome")
muy interesante…
ahora casi casi deberiamos hacer otro post con las traducciones literales (vease traductores google,etc) de los tacos en español pasados al ingles…
jajaja
muy buen articulo
saludos
Hi man! You forgot "que te den por culo", I suppose u know it's meaning!!
Did someone in all these comments mention the BIG DIFFERENCE between:
– ¡¡Deja de tocarte los huevos!! (stop being so lazy, get up the soffa, work, do something!)
– ¡¡Deja de tocarme los huevos!! (stop fucking me, stop bothering me, bastard!)
It's really a big difference between the reflexive verb TOCAR-SE LOS HUEVOS, and the normal verb TOCAR LOS HUEVOS (A ALGUIEN).
You have to be really carefull with that one, like the difference between
– DE puta madre (mind-blowing thing, I really like this, hoorray)
– TU puta madre (fuck you bastard)
HAHA. Like your post. Quiet nice for people actually staying some time in Spain like myself. You just forgot one I often encounter here in the east of Spain. Chupa mi polla! You say it if you think something like ´go fuck yourself´. A classic here!