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Puerto Rican Slang That Blew Our Minds [31 Must Know Phrases]
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ธ.ค. 2021
- Puerto Rican Slang is crazy! Many people say that Caribbean Spanish is the most difficult of the Spanish dialects. The unique vocabulary, accent, and speed in which native speakers communicate is enough to make Spanish students' heads spin.
In this video we show you some of the most common Puerto Rican slangs you’ll hear on La Isla del Encanto to help you understand Puerto Rican Spanish better.
After living in PR for 3 years, we’ve gotten used to the accent and we’ve learned many words and expressions that are exclusive to the island. These words and expressions can help you figure out what some of the most popular Reggaeton songs are all about.
📝Check out more examples here:
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We're Jim and May, a gringo/Mexican married couple dedicated to helping you learn Spanish and travel the world with confidence. We teach "real-world travel Spanish" to show you how to navigate the Spanish-speaking world. Learn about places to visit, cultural differences, food, and the traditions that make each country unique. Learn Spanish, travel the world. ¡El camino es el destino!
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If you loved diving into Puerto Rican slang with us, there's so much more to explore! Head over to our website for an in-depth guide that'll make you sound like a local. Check out spanishandgo.com/learn/puerto-rican-slang. See you there!
Oh wow, I am a Nuyorican that moved to suburban Jersey and I haven't heard some of these words in 20 years, they remind me of my roots, thanks for doing this guys
Ay bendito is sorta like in the south in USA when folks say “ bless your heart” or “ poor thing” .
Almost 100% on point, except "mahones" is pronounced with a silent H.
Haha makes all the difference I was like.. *I nEveR hEard tHat OnE*.. 🤦🏽♀️ yes, yes I have, just without the h lol
Yes. I caught that one. Ma- o- nes.
Nobody likes the grammar police.
The mother fricker never bothered to learn how to say it.
Yea she said that one totally wrong
I want to learn 🇵🇷 spanish . I'm obsessed with 🇵🇷 culture & I'm ready to visit San Juan again. My goal learn the original spanish & 🇵🇷 spanish , study 🇵🇷 history, traditions . I never been around 🇵🇷 people in my childhood nor went to school with them
"Bochinche" is also our word for gossip. The definition that you gave it can also be used for "alboroto"
Also, you're right in your assumption, believe it or not, a lot of out slang is derived from African languages in addition to English and Spanish
In Las Piedras Puerto Rico Alboroto means to be Loud not really gossip.
6:42 also expressed like “buste” 😂
You guys nailed every word and expression.
Love this type of videos where I can see my own language from a different perspective
“Acho” is mostly used right alongside “mano”, like “acho mano que pasó?” “Mano” can be used on its own, “oye mano cómo estás?”, but “acho” I’ve never heard it on its own. I’ve also never heard anyone use it in the “feminine”. For pennies we use “chavito” and “chavos” for money, like you mentioned. And I can’t believe you didn’t have “gufiao” or “wepa” on the list. Lol.
Wepa!!😁
Zafacón - Safety Can (Slurred and evolved)
Gringo - Hey Green (Soldier wearing green, we don’t want you here) Go!
Pitchea- (baseball) (pitch it away, throw it away and don’t think about it anymore).
Ñangotate - Don’t know why but this means to squat. Doesn’t belong on my little list but these are some of my favorite words.
I love being Boricua. We have the coolest words.
Eñangotarse es palabra taina. Como Juracan o Hamaca
Great list. Zafacon comes from "save a can" which was commonly written on big trash cans as part of a recycling campaign promoted by the US Government.
This.
Oh, I hope y’all come back and do more videos! I need to learn PR spanish.
Ay Bendito!!!!!!! Me encanta esa frase
¡A nosotros también! 😆
"Ay, bendito sea dios" Es el long form de la frase.
OMG! I feel identified 😁 (Boricua here born and raised in the island). The word chavo to refer to money comes from "ochavo" which is the old Spanish word for coin. One ochavo was 1/8 of a maravedí. Diantre or diache is euphemism for diablo. The complete jurutungo phrase is "está por el jurutungo viejo" and that word has African origins. With mahones the H is mute as in "maones". The words chévere and pana come from Venezuela, when the Venezuelan novelas started to be broadcasted here in the island, we jut burrowed those words from way back then. You don't say puñeta in polite company 😁 (or you try not to). Zafacón someone already explained it, either from Arabic or from safety can.
The one word you left was JODER and their different varieties: no jodas, estás jodiendo mucho, se jodió, estás jodío (instead of jodido), que jodienda. We use the word chavao, chavienda, etc as an euphemism for joder et al, which means f*cked up.
Thanks for sharing! We keep adding to our list of Puerto Rican slang on our website. 🙏
I never heard a bori say manin, only domi, que lo que manin, and you would respond accordingly, to frio
Que bueno que están de vuelta. Ay bendito como los extrañamos! Bienvenidos.
¡Muchas gracias, Antonio! Saludos.
From what I've been told/taught Puerto Rican Spanish was developed from 6 sources
1) Spain (Andalucia)
2) Spain (Canary Islands)
3) Indigenous Taino
4) West African
5) Moors/Northern African
6) American English
My brother you forgot French specifically from Corzega, that's where we get to pronounce the R with the throat and not with the tip of the tongue, manny French people came from France and Corzega running from Napoleón, that's why lots of Puertoricans have Frenchman names
Vigoreux
Pietri
Mori
Benetti
Rigodeoux
Le Barhtheon
And so on.
7) French
Joder is another word used in Puerto Rico. I was just explaining this to my wife who is Colombian and can be used to mean you got over, to kid, to be a pain in the a@& or pissed off or go screw yourself. Multiple meanings and context is everything.... Great video!!
Como, “no jodas tanto”, don’t be such a pain, lol, o “esta jodio esto”, it’s messed up
Very good video, you nailed most of these phrases. I grew up in New York City and my Puerto Rican parents used these phrases everyday.❤️
Same, so when I go I'm a little lost, especially listening to my cousin who I hardly understand. When he talks it's like almost an entirely different language.
Thank you for sharing
Good to know, i have a friend who lives in Puerto Rico
Mahones pero sin el sonido de la “h” se dice como “ma-o-nes”
I was going to say the same, never heard anyone actually pronounce the H there, lol
A menos que hablen de Mojones. Ahi si aplica. 😂
@@rriqueno 😁 jejeje
en el español, no pronuncian el “H” jamás
@@rriqueno 😂
Estar por Jurutungo = Timbuktu in English. “Where did you go? All the way to Timbuktu?”
That’s right! I don’t know why we didn’t include that in the video.
We say “jurutungo viejo”, though, not just “jurutungo”
Thanks for this video and you make the best videos 👍😉
Glad you like them! 🙏
Me encanta este video y el tema en general ya que soy aficionado de regionalismos y la etimología. La mayoría no se si son slangs porque están en el diccionario. De hecho con excepción de los anglicismos pompeado y janguear, las palabras nuevas como pichear y perrear, el resto, las 27 restantes más o menos están todas en el diccionario de la Real Academia Española, pero aclaro varias.
Corillo no esta, ya que cambiamos un poco la pronunciación, la palabra era corrillo, pero le cambiamos la doble R por una R, sin embargo el significado es idéntico.
Bicho en PR se de dos maneras. Unas es como un insulto de una persona que molesta o simplemente despectivo. De esa manera sí está. De la manera de órgano masculino no está.
Mano que obvio es corto para hermano es bien común en México, y más aun con su diminutivo manito. Me sorprende que la pusieran por lo común que es en varios países.
Acho, obvio que es corto para muchacho, es super común y de lo más distintivo del español que se habla en Murcia. Lo usan idéntico a nosotros en PR.
Puñeta era una palabra muy fea y había que usarla con precaución, pero de hace como 5 años para aca, se ha vuelto más común ya que se usa mucho para exaltar momentos de alegrías en victorias, sobre todo deportivas.
Zafacón se usa también en Rep. Dominicana y hay varias teorías de donde viene, para mi no viene de safety can como algunos dicen. Una vez leí en un diccionario en una biblioteca en España que era un arcaísmo y así se le llamaba a un depósito en los barcos de pesca donde se echaba lo que se descartaba. Nunca más volví a encontrar ese diccionario.
Finalmente, mahones viene de la tela de mahón, que era con la que se hacían unos pantalones muy parecidos. La tela, aunque de China, venía a través de la ciudad portuaria balear de Mahón. De donde también viene la palabra de salsa de mahonesa, ahora mayonesa.
En mahones, la H ex silenciosa, In this word the h is silent.
Yes, I wanted to say great video... you got them all right but as Jose mentioned; in the word mahones the H is silent.
¡Gracias!
no lo sé porque pronunciaron la H, siempre la letra H es calla
In 8:40 the two guys are talking with a Dominican accent (not Puerto Rican); they use the common Dominican slang word 'tiguere'.
That’s right! But our point there was to show the use of “manín,” which is used in both Puerto Rico and DR.
Si quieres decir que los puertorriqueños que lo dicen no son puertorriqueños, eso no tiene que ver con nuestro video. 😆
Btw vivo en la isla y los escuché "ay bendito" y me dió emoción lol
El manin es dominicano y como somos islas hermanas entendemos nuestras pequeñas diferencias. 🇵🇷💯
Naah its boricua its the dominicans that came into PuertoRico from Hd/dH dominiHaiti o Haitídomini in yolas boats that came to live in PuertoRico and picked up and learned boricua expression and slangs that PuertoRican no longer use and its out dated and out style im 55 and dominicans never ever talked like that like they do now since those PuertoRican artists have went and tooken the Rappeton/ Reggueton all over Spanish speaking latina America dominicans are the copy cats and the monkey see monkey do photo copies of what PuertoRicans say and do the wannabes boricuas to make a name from themselves they need to compare themselves to haitianos which is the same country all wrapped up into one. And fyi Manin in PuertoRico was useds back in the 80s and que la que hay, or que la que is boricua what they did was say ....que " lo " que which derives from que la que. Always copyin the borcua lingo remember these people never acted like this this is new in this time and era after they've heard the Regguetoneros from P.R thru the music its changed them drastically they are no longer dominiHaiti o Haitídomini they have been Boricuanizado no longer act or think like a dominican they talk act fix and dress themselves like boricuas to make a image for themselves in other words they imitate what boricuas do and say....see they can imitate but never duplicate theres a real boricua and a fake one. Which one is the dumb in a can? Exactamente the fake ones the wannabes
No somos iguales solo que son islas del Caribe y mas na pero nada en común ahora ellos cuando llegan a PuertoRico aprenden un mundo con los boricuas y lo llevan para su pais es cómo la.bachata eso es de PuertoRico pero ellos pensaron y creeyeron que era de ellos nope!!! Lo que pasa es que uj dominicano que se llama blas duran vivo en Puertorro en el 1968 y el aprendio la bachata en P.R y se la llevo a introducir en dH/Hd dominiHaiti o Haitídomini y ahi el se puso famoso de tener esa fama de que el la.invento lo que pasa es que el nunca dijo donde el la aprejdio ese es el problema pero ka gente no sabe porque se dejan llevar por lo que solo saben añ moment y no hacen reviso para educarse mas.
I love this kind of videos. Thank you. 😘
Thanks, Ruth!
Mera woo! Im mexican grew up with my domi and bori, if any one want to learn just come to bk, bx, ny!!
OMGOODNESS!!! I can’t believe you guys are living in Puerto Rico. 🙌🏼❤️That’s AWESOME!!! Bendiciones!!!
Zafacón the word came from the trash can made of metal that you could dispose cigarette butts, and named “safe can” and with the time, the word in Puerto Rico changed to Zafacón!
No, that word is way way older than that
@@PUNKDUDE1991 I read somewhere it came from the big dumpsters the US military brought here after 1898 and read Safety can and it somehow became zafacón
Zafacón I think it comes from the English word Safety Can
Another way of saying "Ay, Bendito" it's just "Ay, Dito" or "Dito"
Ay bendito is one of my daily words
Good video im looking to learn pr and dr spanish
Nice! Keep at it. It can be done. 😅 Thanks for watching!
un abrazo bien apretao a los dos me encanto el video y ustedes se lo disfrutaron tambien sigan bregando me ecanto verlos otra vez a mis boricuas residentes saludos
¡Muchas gracias, Domingo! Un abrazo.
Hola ! Hace tiempo no subían vídeos ! Gracias !
Some Puerto Rican words also come from Taino words.
Well... Abombao to me is more like that specific smell clothes get when waterlogged. It also means a strong smell but it leans more towards that described smell
Quiero hablar inglés con fluidez, me encanta el inglés
You guys did an amazing job. I am puerto rican and you guys nailed it!
Great video I am moving to Puerto Rico on Friday and arriving on Sat the 22nd. Have to say best Puerto Rico word video I have seen got to watch more can't wait to see and arrive 😂😂
My wife is Mexican and I’m Puerto Rican sometimes the words she says are not even in the dictionary and words that I say are actually used by other Latinos it’s hard for me to understand Mexicans tbh 🤣💀
Can y’all do Individual Spanish classes
My slang words from the 1980's were "broki" which means (my homie or 'manito). The other was "gufiao" means dope, fresh.
Please continue your video and blog
Muchas gracias!! Esta ayúdame mucho especialmente con reggaetón
When we visited PR last spring I remembered how you guys said Popeyes Fried Chicken was often pronounced as Poe-Pay-Ez, and now I can’t stop pronouncing it that way lol
LOL! I've been away too long... :)
Lmbo
That’s awesome! That’s how we say it all the time now too. 😂
Zafacon is one of those words we adopted from the Arabic. It comes from the word “zafaca” which is a small trash can. So basically “zafacon” means a big zafaca, a big trash can. And that word is not only used in PR, it is also used in Dominican Republic and Panama
Actually, the zafacon vibes from English. It came into use from the words "safety can"
@@sakisaotome6753 and I’m pretty sure that’s as as true as “gringo” meaning “green go” 🤦🏻♀️ Those are just urban legends… The most accepted theory is that zafacon comes from the word zafaca. There were people from Arabic culture among the Spaniards that settled in the island so we probably adapted the word “zafaca” to “zafacón” which is basically a big zafaca (zafacas were small). That “safety can” theory have been debunked many times because it have been proven it precedes USA’s invasion in 1898. People just keep repeating it as fact thanks to the internet. And “gringo” used to be used in Medieval Spain for foreign people or people who talked in an intelligible language so that word have been around waaay before the Mexican-American war so the “green go away” theory is pretty much debunked as well. It doesn’t even make sense anyways, USA’s uniform in that war was blue, not green, so why would they refer to the US soldiers as “green”?
Would coger monga also refer to being sluggish and/or exhausted as to having a cold?
Very helpful...Thank you!!
for ay bendito sometimes well just say dito :) and bregar is also used is DR !
Glad to see you guys again!
Thanks! Great video. God bless you.
Thanks for watching!
😂😂😂🇵🇷🇵🇷🇵🇷 I didn't realize these were slang..
Jurutungo is also like saying in a non vulgar way "casa del diablo" "El carjao viejo" meaning in English would refer to saying the Boon Docks or the Boonies.
Thank you for this! 🙏
In bk we say dito, to be more passive in sense
Zafacon comes from the Moors of Southern Spain we have a lot of words from them
Great job guys !!!
Thought you moved to Mexico. Good to see you!
ZAFACON... Some say the word comes from the English word "safety can", which is used to refer to trash cans in labs. One theory is that the term originated from the many pharmaceuticals on the island, which may have had special "safety cans" for chemicals. However, this theory is disputed because the word is also used in the Dominican Republic, which developed the word independently. Some say the word comes from the WWII slogan "Save a can", which accompanied many recycling containers. However, this theory is disputed because the spelling starts with "z", which better matches an Arabic origin. The best hypothesis is that zafacón comes from the Arabic word zafa or zafaca which means a clay container or vasija. After the end of the Islamic Era in the Iberian Peninsula, Arabs came along with Spanish to conquer the new territories. After Latin, Arabic was the second-largest language that influenced Spanish.
Zafacón came from “safe can”
Hola, yo soy puertorriqueño y quiero agradecerles por lo que estan haciendo, ta' muy bueno. Quería explicarles que la palabra "puñeta" aqui la usamos para casi todo. Puñeta básicamente es una plabra que usamos para reforzar o enfatizar una expresión. Por ejemplo, si pasas un examen dices PUÑETA lo pasé, o, si alguien te está "jodiendo mucho" (bothering you), le dices PUÑETA no jodas más. So, el significado va a depender de con qué propósito la usas. Tambien quería explicarles que la palabra "Zafacón" según lo que mis abuelos me explicaron, viene del ingles. Cuando llegaron los gringos a puerto rico, obviamente introducieron objetos de allá y uno de esos objetos eran unos contenedores de mediano tamaño donde tenian aceites, o leche en polvo, entonces para reusar los contenedores le grababan "Save A Can". Pues el boricua lo puertorriqueñizó a "zafacón". Otra cosa, las palabras "estamos" o "estas" las cortamos a "tamos" y "tas" eliminando el "es".
Que bueno verlos otra vez..el idioma español es profundo en la isla palabras tainas arabes africanas y aun palabras en ingles ..rufo techo en ingles ..llarda patio en ingles como Ej.
Sí, es cierto. ¡Gracias por vernos, Elliott! Estaremos publicando más seguido. 😅
Cierto en los boricuas residentes en N.Y. Yarda por yard, rufo por roof, la marqueta por the market etc pero en Puerto Rico no usamos eso anglisismos.
@@kanorysvelez2896 hasta yo que nada más estudie elemental en PR no digo esas palabras. Rufo y yarda no se usa en la isla
Excellent video
Some of these might be newer or regional. Mahones is pronounced ma-o-nés
“Abombado” is mostly used if something smells like it’s been wet for a while.
I think “bregar” is the slang word that has the most definitions. It can mean “to work out”, “to work/function”, “to help out”, “hustle/hustling”. So many ways to use it.
Thank you
Hay bendito is like feeling sorry or sad for something or someone like saying " poor baby oh wow poor guy or person. Or like hay bendito sea dios" like for gods sake have mercy"
What is a coloquial or slang word for teen or teenager?
Isn’t Coño another common expression used in PR? Basically just another way of saying ‘Damn’ in Spanish. Kinda surprised this one wasn’t in the video.
Lmao he was so happy to say bicho
😂
Pana is also very common in Venezuela.
That’s right! Our friends from Venezuela de use that a lot.
Good info
Thanks for watching!
Love all your videos
Thanks for watching!
Hi so I am Puerto Rican and I am new to video where I come from which is really the capital of Puerto Rico San Juan we often say the word alboroto when referring to a noisy commotion
You forgot about bellaco/a, lol! In my circle of friends I heard this a lot.
My favorite for straw is carrizo, a reed. Panama's word. :-)
I didn’t know that! Thanks for sharing! Un saludo.
The reason why we call oyr money "pesos" instead of dollars is because before 1898, our currency was in "pesos". Don't have any bur, I have seen them.
Abombao is not something rotten. Abombao means that bad smell when clothes or any fabric doesn’t dry properly. For example that smell your clothes get if you wash your clothes in the washing machine and left them there instead of hang them to dry or put them in the dryer; or that smell the kitchen sponge get if you don’t clean them. Or that smell a towel get if you use them for a whole month without washing it 😂
Were i lived lots of ppl say puñeta every other 5 seconds
I want to learn more Mexican Spanish & 🇵🇷 spanish. I know ¿ Que es la que hay ? What's up I want to keep learning 🇵🇷 spanish
Hola ! Estoy mirando sus videos y me encantan! Quiero mudarme a Puerto Rico para estudiar alli, y Cabo Rojo es una zona buena para ir a vivir con mi familia :) podria preguntarles donde esta ese apartamento Que rentaban por 6 meses en Cabo rojo con tres habitaciones ? Les voy agradecer si me pueden dar alguna informacion . Gracias! :)
as a boricua nosy is presentao
The common translation of "Bregar" is "to hustle".
Zafacón comes from the Spanish word “zafaca” which were clay containers where the Spanish got rid of food scraps and other stuff from the kitchen. 😂
But its arabic word and was used in spain in the Spanish language
Abombao is when something smells bad from water damage. Spoiled or rotten is podrido or podrio
Zafacón it comes from safety can, we transform those words into zafacón. Hispanizamos safety can a zafacón.
Diantre also can be said dianche
Por algo a veces nos llaman la tierra de el Ay Bendito!
Como dice la canción de Rafael Hernández: "los que dicen ay bendito, esos sí, esos sí ♪♪"
🤏correction🙂✌️
Mahón pronounced ma-ón h is silent.
"Manín" Dominican slang example clip proves it 😂 accents are very different!
My father who was Puerto Rican nicknamed me, Cara de Chavo. My Mexican American mom thought he meant I had a small face. Maybe he meant I was dark too as in Morena? This was a fun video.
Lol...I don't know why they shared BICHO. I didn't expect that
Because it’s a slang term that can easily get people into trouble. 😆
Where is that clip from in the 8:40 timestamp
Soy boricua y hace algunos años los jóvenes no dicen si, ni estoy de acuerdo dicen "dale".
¡Ay bendito, Que jaLtera! Love it🤭
Tom Cruise’s voice actor stand in lol
Bochinche is also gossip.
I went to school in Puerto Rico, zafacon, came from the words safety can.... we heard that instead and made it a spanish word. We also say " guagua" for a "van", and that word came from the canary Islands were some of our descendants came from. Some of your words are just a lot of modern slang. Not typical of our written language. And not typical of older Puerto Rican generations.
La h es silenciosa en Mahones… suena Maones.
Manin nunca lo escuché en Puerto Rico. Nacido y criado allá hasta mis 37 años. Si he escuchado Panín como pana (friend).
It's best to have a Puerto Rican native, though.
If a Puerto Rican made this video, the title wouldn’t be “Puerto Rican Slang That Blew Our Minds.” 😆
@@SpanishandGo Mexican perspectives on Puerto Rican slang
I don’t think that title would get as many clicks.