When you’re learning a new language, it’s great to have fun and learn some extra vocab from time to time. Learning to have everyday practical conversations is all well and good, but sometimes you just need some badass Spanish words in your vocabulary.
Spanish is a diverse and rich language and there are many cool Spanish words you can use to make your conversations more interesting.
In this article, we’ll introduce you to 15 cool Spanish words with meanings you can slot in almost anywhere. Enjoy!
1. Abracadabrante
Translation: very surprising and disconcerting
Abracadabrante is a recent addition to the RAE – the Real Academia Española, Spain’s official dictionary. It’s an adjective to describe something very surprising and disconcerting. You can see from its etymology that it comes from the word abracadabra, a word that’s been used in many languages since the 3rd century AD.
Example:
Su insistencia de que el camino hacia la paz pasa por Irak es muy abracadabrante.
His insistence that the path towards peace goes through Iraq is very disconcerting.
2. Amigovio/a
Translation: a friend with benefits
The word amigovio is a portmanteau of amigo (friend) and novio (boyfriend). This is essentially un amigo con derechos or a friend with benefits.
Example:
José y Carmen son amigovios.
José and Carmen are friends with benefits.
3. Friqui/friki
Translation: an extravagant, weird or eccentric person.
From the English ‘freak’ and ‘freaky,’ the word friqui or friki has made it into the Spanish lexicon. It can be used as a noun or adjective. Let’s look at some examples:
Examples:
He oído de tu amigo friqui.
I heard about your freaky friend.
No soy el friqui de la oficina.
I’m not the office weirdo.
4. Palabro
Translation: a made-up word or a buzzword
Not to be confused with the word palabra, palabro means a made-up word or a buzzword. It can be used in different contexts.
In Spanish lessons, for example, students often make up words trying to create a Spanish word when they don’t know it. An example of this is populación instead of población when people are trying to think of what the word could be. In this context, populación would be un palabro because it doesn’t really exist.
In the context of buzzwords, the word palabra describes a word or piece of jargon that becomes popular for a time.
Example:
Parece que apenas puede pasar un año entero sin que aparezca en el sistema educativo un nuevo palabro or acrónimo.
It seems that hardly a year goes by without the emergence of a new buzzword or acronym in the education system.
5. Tuit
Translation: A tweet – i.e., a digital message posted on the social site Twitter.
Tweets have been around for a while but this word has only recently been added to the official RAE dictionary in Spain. It’s pronounced similarly to English with the spelling changed to suit the phonetics of Spanish.
It’s one of the cool-sounding Spanish words that aren’t Spanish words originally – a bit like fútbol too!
Example:
Leí un tuit de Ronaldo ayer y fue muy divertido.
I read a Ronaldo tweet yesterday and it was very funny.
6. Finde
Translation: weekend
In English, we don’t have a slang word for weekend (probably because it’s not a mouthful). In Spanish, however, you’ll hear the word finde being used.
This is short for fin de semana (which literally means ‘end of week’). As fin de semana is five syllables long, it’s no surprise that Spanish people have come up with a shorter version of this common word.
Examples:
¿Qué vas a hacer este finde?
What are you going to do this weekend?
Nos vemos el finde
We’ll see each other at the weekend.
7. Zoomleaños
Translation: a birthday event using the videoconferencing software, Zoom.
Hopefully, this is a distant memory for most people now but a Zoomleaños was a frequent occurrence in 2020 and 2021. When actual social gatherings were forbidden, many people turned to Zoom for their celebrations and so zoomleaños came about. The word is a mixture of the word Zoom and cumpleaños (birthday).
Example:
¿Te tocó estar en un zoomleaños?
Did you attend a birthday party on Zoom?
8. Guay
Translation: cool
If you’re looking for cool words in Spanish, guay is (quite literally) cool! This slang word normally refers to someone or something and can be used for anything positive – a bit like our word ‘cool’!
Examples:
¡Qué guay esa bicicleta!
That bike is so cool!
Cuando la conozcas, verás que es super guay
When you get to know her, you’ll see she is really cool.
9. Venga
Translation: alright or come on
Venga is one of the more useful cool sound Spanish words as it can mean a few things. Firstly, it can mean ‘come on!’ when you’re trying to persuade someone to do something. Secondly, it can mean ‘alright!’ when you’re agreeing to something. And thirdly, it can be used as a filler.
Examples:
Venga, juega con tu hermano.
Come on, play with your brother.
¡Venga! Ya vamos.
Alright! Let’s go.
10. Hombre
Translation: man
Some native English speakers use the word ‘man’ in a similar way to how Spanish speakers use hombre. For native Spanish speakers, however, it’s used mainly as a slang phrase as an interjection.
Example:
¡Hombre! ¡Qué rico este pulpo!
Man, how tasty is this octopus!
11. Chaval
Translation: kid/young person
This word is used to talk about young people and children and is similar to the English word ‘kid.’ There is a feminine version too – chavala.
Example:
Estaba hablando con un chaval que había perdido un juguete.
I was talking to a kid who’d lost a toy.
12. Hostia or la hostia
Translation: oh! No way!
The word hostia in Spanish is the term used for the communion wafer in Church (hostia = host) but in exclamation, it’s used in a similar way to the English “Oh my God!”
It is used frequently to express disbelief and surprise. It’s not a swear word but some people won’t like it – just like some people disprove of using ‘oh my God’ in English.
Example:
¡Hostia! ¡Ese cantante me encanta!
Oh my God! I love that singer!
13. Ostras
Translation: oh my!
If you’re worried about offending people with hostia, the Spanish term ostras is a non-blasphemous alternative that’s still included in cool-sounding Spanish words. It’s used in exactly the same way as hostia.
Example:
¡Ostras! Has Ganado mucho dinero.
Oh my! You’ve won a lot of money.
14. Flipar
Translation: to freak out/go nuts
Flipar is Spanish slang that conveys astonishment and shock. It means ‘to freak out’ or ‘go nuts’ and is used in a wide range of situations.
Perhaps you discover something astonishing about a colleague or you find out that a partner has been having an affair. When you go to tell someone what you’ve discovered, you might tell them te vas a flipar – you’re going to freak out.
Example:
Te vas a flipar. José va a casarse con Carmen.
You’re going to freak out. Jose is going to marry Carmen.
15. Pirarse/me piro
Translation: to leave/I’m leaving
You’ll often hear people saying the phrase me piro vampiro, which is a bit like saying ‘see you later alligator.’ However, nowadays a lot of people just say me piro, which means ‘I’m leaving.’
Example:
No quiero quedarme más, me piro.
I don’t want to stay any longer, I’m off.
Final thoughts
It can be hard to remember any new cool Spanish phrases as you’re unlikely to learn them organically unless you live in a Spanish-speaking country. Most of these words I picked up when living in Spain – I must’ve heard venga, hostia, and guay hundreds of times a week.
So, don’t flipar and decide to pirarte when you can’t remember them! Maybe you could arrange a Zoomleaños for your next birthday finde and invite lots of native speakers to chat with you? You could write a tuit to invite them – it’ll be guay and you won’t look friqui at all. You never know, it might turn into an abracadabrante evening and you could meet a nice amigovio.
Too much? Perhaps!
Essentially, the key to sounding more native is to use everyday language that real Spanish speakers your age use. So, if you’re learning the language in your 20s, you should try to use cool Spanish words that Spanish speakers your age would use. In your 60s or 70s? It’s probably best to avoid the slang as it would just sound odd. Each to their own, though!
Remember, a lot of cool-sounding Spanish phrases are slang and need to be used in the right context. You shouldn’t, for example, refer to your child as a chaval in a formal situation. If in doubt, watch how people talk to you and mirror the sort of language they use. Once you’ve heard the words being used in the right environments and contexts, you’ll feel much more confident in using them yourself.