Vocabulary
Different regional varieties of Spanish vary in terms of vocabulary as well. This includes both words that exist only in certain varieties (especially words borrowed from indigenous languages of the Americas), and words that are used differently in different areas. Among words borrowed from indigenous languages are many names for food, plants and animals, clothes, and household object, such as the following items of Mexican Spanish vocabulary borrowed from Nahuatl.
| Word | English translation |
|---|---|
| camote | sweet potato |
| pipián | stew |
| chapulín | grasshopper |
| nopal | cactus (prickly pear) |
| huipil | blouse |
| metate | grinder, mortar and pestle |
In addition to loan words, there are a number of Spanish words that have developed distinct senses in different regional dialects. That is, for certain words a distinct meaning, either in addition to the standard meaning or in place of it, exists in some varieties of Spanish.
| Word | Standard meaning | Regional meaning |
|---|---|---|
| almacén | warehouse, department store | grocery store (Andean Spanish, Rioplatense Spanish) |
| colectivo | collective | collective taxi, minibus (Argentine Spanish, Bolivian Spanish, Chilean Spanish) |
| cuadra | stable, pigsty | city block (Latin American Spanish) |
| chaqueta | jacket | (vulgar) male masturbation (Central American Spanish) |
| coger | to take, to catch, to start, to feel | (vulgar) to fuck (Rioplatense Spanish) |
| concha | shell, tortoiseshell | (vulgar) cunt (Andean Spanish, Rioplatense Spanish) |
| peloteo | knock-up (in tennis), warm up | fawning, adulation (Peninsular Spanish) |
Read more about this topic: Spanish Dialects And Varieties
Famous quotes containing the word vocabulary:
“A new talker will often call her caregiver “mommy,” which makes parents worry that the child is confused about who is who. She isn’t. This is a case of limited vocabulary rather than mixed-up identities. When a child has only one word for the female person who takes care of her, calling both of them “mommy” is understandable.”
—Amy Laura Dombro (20th century)
“The vocabulary of pleasure depends on the imagery of pain.”
—Marina Warner (b. 1946)
“One forgets words as one forgets names. One’s vocabulary needs constant fertilizing or it will die.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)