Spanish Profanity - References To Sexual Acts

References To Sexual Acts

The following words are indicative of a variety of sexual acts, especially sexual intercourse and masturbation, though mostly limited to specific geographic regions.

• bellaco (lit.: "rogue")—used in Puerto Rico it means "horny", but in Perú and according to the Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española means "bad", "sleazy", "clever".
• cachar—commonly used in Peru. In Chile, the noun form cacha is used with this connotation (pegarse una cachita, "to have a quickie"). It is also used as a loanword from the English "to catch," and, by extension, "to understand" ("to catch someone's drift").
• chingar—originating from the Basque verb txingartu, meaning "to burn with coal" or from Caló (Spanish Romani) word čingarár, meaning "to fight." In the work La Chingada, it was famously applied to La Malinche, the mistress of Hernán Cortés.

In Mexico, chingar means "to fuck" or "to make a mistake" ("to fuck up"). For example: Chinga a tu madre or Vete y chinga a tu madre ("Go and fuck your mother") are often considered very offensive in Mexico. Vete a la chingada translates to "go fuck yourself." Other uses are considered less offensive.

A Mexican might say No me chingues ("Don't fuck with me")—a fairly strong way to say "Don't annoy me", "Are you serious?" or "Get out of here!" If a Mexican is cheated in a business deal or defeated in sports, me chingaron ("they fucked me") might be used. Also used is the expression Estás corriendo de la chingada, literally "You are running very badly".

Soy chingón could mean in English "I rule" or "I'm the man", ¡No chingues! or (its euphemistic form) ¡No manches! means something like "No way!" (literally more like "Don't screw around"). ¡Qué chingón! could be used to say "Wow, that's cool!" in an aggressive way. ¡Qué chinga! could translate to "What a pain in the ass!" while ¡A la chingada! can be a curse at someone or an expression of shock. Un chingadazo can refer to a blow, or a strong punch.

Machín (a contraction of lo más chingón) could translate to, "the baddest motherfucker".

Chingadera is used to display frustration with an object. Translates to "fucking thing." The word is understood in Spain and Puerto Rico, and used in the latter. It could mean from something related to sexual relations to being screwed up.

• shimar—another variant used in Guatemala. The "sh" sound does not occur in formal Spanish, and is used as a variation of the "ch" or "y" sounds.
• chinquechar—equivalent to chingar, used mostly in northern and western Mexico.
• chichar—used interchangeably with chingar or singar in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
• clavar (lit.: "to nail")—In Puerto Rico and Cuba it can be used in both vulgar and obscene expressions. For example: La clavé ("I nailed her"), Me la clavaron ("I was screwed"). In Mexico clavar generally means to penetrate.
• coger (lit.: "to seize," "to catch,", "to get", "to take" (e.g., a bus), "to pick" (e.g. fruit from a tree), "to pick up")— is employed most commonly in Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, as a term for "fuck" but it is used with either connotation (literal or obscene). To solely express the literal meaning, some people in these regions opt to use the word tomar ("to take") or agarrar ("to grab" or "to hold") instead. In most other places it is analogous to the English "to get (some)" in the sense of a sexual encounter or "take (in or from)" in some sexual sense but not "fuck" per se. In Puerto Rico, Cuba, Colombia and Spain for example coger is not considered sexual at all, unless used in an unambiguously sexual context. In Chile, Uruguay and Argentina coger always carries a sexual connotation but its literal meaning is nonetheless recognized. In Cuba, for the verb's usage to be sexual it is extended with explicit phrases like "coger el culo" (fuck the ass), "coger el bollo" and "coger la chocha" ("fuck the pussy").
• comer (lit.: means to eat)—used in Argentina, Colombia, Panama and Cuba, is considered crude and used mostly by youth, e.g. "Me la comí" (literally: "I ate her," metaphorically: "I ate her out"). In Chile its means "to reach third base without going further." It is similar to comerla (or comérsela), chuparla ("to suck it") or mamarla.
• culear (lit.: "to move one's ass")—used in Panama, Ecuador, Chile and Argentina to refer to the act of having sex.
• correrse (lit.: "to get off'," "to get out of the way")—means to have an orgasm. Used commonly in Spain.
• dar (lit.: "to give")—used in Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. In Mexico darlas ("to give them"), depending on the context, means "to give oneself (to another)" (sexually speaking).
• dar por el culo, dar por culo — means "to sodomize", also "to disturb"
• dar un poco de caña—identical to the British "give a bit of stick" or the American "give a kick in the ass", meaning admonishment to correct some behavior. This expression holds primarily in Spain. In other regions it is unknown and the listener may mistake it for a crude sexual reference, although in Cuba a similar term is also used, dale leña, or "give him/her (fire)wood." In El Salvador, it also has a sexual connotation, as in me la di ("I fucked her").
• dar astilla (lit.: "to give a splinter")—used in the Dominican Republic. This phrase is a common among youth.
• Dar pinga, dar cabilla and dar tolete. Terms used in Cuba meaning to fuck (from the male perspective).
• hacer(lo) (lit.: to do (it))—used in Panama, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, and every country of South America. To say lo hice con él/ella ("I did it with him/her") means "I had intercourse with him/her." Note that hacer ("to do" or "to make") does not necessarily mean sexual intercourse.
• echar un polvo (literally "to throw a powder")—used in Spain, Argentina, and Chile, usually with a connotation of infidelity or of casual sex. It is fairly common in the Dominican Republic and it has gained popularity in Panama, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Puerto Rico. In Peru, the variant tirarse un polvo is used.
• follar—used particularly in Spain and to a lesser extent in Cuba, but rarely found elsewhere.
• hacer tortilla—used in the Cuban gay scene, meaning to have sex without penetration; lesbian sex.
• hundir (lit.: "to sink")—refers exclusively to heterosexual intercourse. Common uses and variations are voy a hundírselo and hundirle los pelos ("sink the curlies"; pelos is a reference to female pubic hair).
• joder—considered very vulgar. Also used with the connotation of "fucking with (teasing, harassing)" someone or "screwing up" something.

In Spain, the word is also used as an interjection, as in, ¡Joder! ("Fuck!"). For example: ¡¿Joder, sabes español?! ("No kidding, you know Spanish?").

The word joder comes from the Latin futuere (cognate with French foutre, Italian fottere, Romanian fute, Catalan fotre, and Galician and Portuguese foder).

In parts of South America and México, joder means either "to annoy" (no me jodas = "don't annoy me"), "to kid with someone" (no jodas = "no kidding") or "to have fun" (vamos a joder = "let's have fun") and is deemed mildly vulgar but not obscene. In Argentina, Chile, Nicaragua, Peru, Dominican Republic and Panama, joder can be used as a vulgar substitute of the verbs to annoy, or to fool/mock or to do monkey business (No jodas conmigo = "Don't fool with me," Tú me estás jodiendo = "You've got to be—fucking—kidding me"). The substantive joda is used as "fun" (e.g., la joda loca = "great fun, wild party"), and the word jodido as "difficult" (examen jodido = "hard exam").

In Cuba and Puerto Rico, it is used least in reference to sexual intercourse.

• limar ("to smooth out")—used in Guatemala by the small population who speak Caló (a slang language).

In Argentine slang, it means to be out of your mind, and also to be very amazed by something.

• mámalo (lit.: "suck it")—not considered insulting when used between males (as in the adjective mamalón, which means "outstanding"), but derogatory when spoken to females.

Comes from the verb mamar which means "to suckle" and is used metaphorically in reference to oral sex.

• meterla (or metértela, metérsela, etc.) doblada, literally "sticking into someone after bending it" is slang for any malicious, duplicitous or mischievous action taken on a naive, well-meaning, unexpecting or permissive individual.
• mamabicho/mamabichos (lit.: "one who sucks bichos','") which means penis sucker —used in Puerto Rico.
• meter (lit.: "to place" or "to insert")—sometimes used in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba, or even Spain to imply the insertion of the male penis during sexual intercourse. (Yo se lo metí a ella = "I put it inside her").
• picar (lit: "to sting")—a metaphor for the insertion of the penis.
• pisar (lit.: "to step on")—used in Cuba and Central America (mostly El Salvador and some parts of Honduras) and to some extent in Chile, Guatemala, and Cuba. It means being on top during intercourse, like the rooster does to the hen.
• ponchar (lit.: "to pinch")—used in Mexico. In other regions, it means "to strike out" (in baseball) and is not considered offensive. In Panama it is used in with either connotation.
• ponerla (lit.: "to put it")—used in Argentina. For example: Hoy la puse means "I had sex today."
• rajpar' (corruption of "raspar"—"to scratch)—used in the Dominican Republic. Its "s" is corrupted to an aspirated voiceless stop.
• remojar el cochayuyo (lit.: to soak the cochayuyo)—used in Chile The expression alludes to the cochayuyo algae that is harvested on Chile's coast. The algae is preserved by sun-drying. To be used for cooking, it then needs to be softened by soaking in water.
• singar (corruption of chingar)—most commonly used in the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, and Cuba.
• tirar (lit.: "to pull", "to shoot", or "to throw away")—sometimes used in Spain, Nicaragua, Perú, Chile, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico, and is commonly used in Venezuela and Colombia. For example: Me la tiré ("I fucked her").

In Argentina, tirar la goma (lit.: "to throw the goma," see goma below) refers to fellatio.