20 More Spanish Words English Speakers Might Not Know They’re Using

A few years ago, the Huffington Post ran an article entitled 24 Spanish Words English Speakers Might Not Know They’re Using. It was informative and well-designed, but some of its entries were rather obvious. I mean… macho, bodega, llama, chilli, Florida? I believe many people have already figured out that these words have Spanish origins. But there are other words that do not readily expose their Spanish roots. Just look at the quandary this girl above is in. Her logic is impeccable, but her conclusion is wrong, just wrong. Gorilla comes from ancient Greek. A quick check at Dictionary.com could have verified that. Perhaps her tablet wasn’t charged.

In any case, my aim here is to present you with 20 more such examples, many of which may have escaped your attention, even if you have some Spanish skills. It’s funny how we can take for granted things that we see all the time. Take a few leisurely minutes para oler las rosas (to smell the roses). You might end up with more than a few “Ah-hah!” moments.

First, however, I will mention one of the Huffington Post entries, because it’s one of my favorite “where-in-the-hell-did-that-come-from?” words. It’s buckaroo. A lot of our Wild West vocabulary comes via Mexico since Mexico used to own our whole southwest, right? Buckaroo is one of those. It’s derived from vaquero, the Spanish word for cowboy. (Do you kind of see vaca (the word for cow in there?) And -ero is the Spanish suffix for a worker with that thing, e.g., a panadero is a baker, someone who makes bread (pan).

Okay, so let’s begin our list of 20 new words you (maybe) didn’t know were Spanish:

1. ten-gallon hat: I never could figure this out till I did some research. No way you could hold even one gallon of water in that thing. And why would you even try? Turns out size doesn’t matter when it comes to this item of sartorial splendor. It most likely comes from tan galán, which translates as so galant in Spanish. Makes a lot more sense now, doesn’t it?
2. hoosegow: This stirs up memories of old Westerns. I can see some lowly rustler being hauled off to the hoosegow. Bedraggled, shuffling dirt, two-week old beard, cursing under his breath. Oh yes, the word! It’s derived from juzgado (court), and it came to be known as another name for jail.
3. calaboose: This is also a jail, but many people would probably guess it’s the last car on a California train. Nope, it comes from calabozo (prison or dungeon).
4. doubloon: A doblón was a gold coin from 15th century Spain. It got its “double” name because a) it had engraved portraits on either side (of Ferdinand and Isabela), or b) because it was worth two ducats.
5. pecadillo: Despite the guess by an unnamed friend of mine that this word has something to do with a p**ker and a dildo, the word means a small sin in Spanish. As it does in English, bobo, and yes, I’m talking about you, Tom!
6. guerrilla warfare: If you enter this term in a search bar, you’ll find 515,000 hits on Google. That’s kind of funny since it literally means a little war warfare. Guerilla is the diminutive for guerra (war). But a guerrilla is also a person who engages in that surreptitious, hit-and-run style of fighting, so I guess I’ll give that term a pass.
7. vamoose: Speaking of redundancies, the same thing often happens with vamoose. Have you ever heard anyone say, “Let’s vamoose,” meaning “Let’s skedaddle”? Here’s a link to a travel agency with that name. Well, vamoose is a mispronunciation of vamos, one way to exclaim, “Let’s go” in Spanish. So that agency is actually named “Let’s let’s go.”
8. alligator: from el lagarto (the lizard) .
9. hammock: from hamaca, which means… drum roll, please… hammock.
10. palomino: That beautiful light-colored horse is named straight-away for a palomino (a young dove or pigeon).
11. mosquito: In Spanish una mosca is a fly. So un mosquito is a small fly. Now there’s a misnomer if one ever existed. Shouldn’t it be renamed un carnivorito (a small carnivore)?
12. mano a mano: Most people get this totally wrong. They think it means man to man. Nope! It means hand to hand. And the original connotation, according to Dictionary.com involved “two matadors alternating in fighting two or three bulls each.” Reasonable conclusion: don’t challenge a matador to a mano a mano match. You will lose.
13. platinum: from platina (little silver). Given the respective prices of the two, shouldn’t it be renamed platalote (big silver)?
14. bonanza: Straight from the same word in Spanish, which means prosperity. I’ve read that historically it meant calm seas/good weather and that later it referred to a huge ore find.
15. vigilante: No, in Spanish it doesn’t mean a guy seeking justice outside the law. Far from it. Vigilante simply means a guard. The same word as an adjective means… ta-dah… vigilant.
16. savvy: Everywhere I look, it says this word comes from sabe, the Spanish third-person singular of saber (to know). Sabe means You/He/She or It knows. Sounds reasonable but hey, haven’t etymologists heard of savoir (to know) from French? Just askin’.
17. nachos: Break time! I’m breaking my rule in that I know all of you know and love nachos. But did you know how they got their name? Well, this is really interesting because I may well have discovered an urban legend. According to Wikipedia and other sources (most of which copy Wikipedia or each other), wives of soldiers stationed at Fort Duncan, Texas, in 1943 crossed the border one day and ended up at a Mexican restaurant after hours. The chef was gone and this guy Ignacio Anaya whipped up the first “nachos.” Why were they called nachos? Because Nacho was his nickname, short for Ignacio. The rest is history, as they say. However, more research on Wikipedia tells me that Fort Duncan was not in operation in 1943. And others have made the claim that they invented nachos. So there you go. What is real, what is fantasy? Well, I can tell you nachos are for real, no matter who invented them. And they do seem rather Mexican.
18. renegade: From renegado (a rebel or in a religious war, an apostate).
19. matador: This one seems obvious, right? It’s the guy who fights the bull and of course you know the word is Spanish. But did you know its literal translation is killer? Yes, this is the man (or sometimes woman) who basically assasinates the bull after the animal — I’m speaking of the bull — has been thoroughly weakened by getting stabbed by two picadores two or three times each and then having been weakened even further by three banderilleros who jab pointed sticks into the same area of the bull’s shoulders. Then it’s time for the matador to come out and finish the job. Admittedly a weakend bull is still nothing to mess around with, but the very fact that the last dude is called the matador means the game is a bit fixed. I mean, it’s kind of like the bull is the gambler (who didn’t choose to enter the casino anyway) and the picadores, banderilleros, and the matador are the house. Yes, the house occasionally loses, but not very often, and it’s certainly not set up for the two sides to be evenly matched. (End of rant.)
20. Mensa: You may have heard of Mensa. Their members are quite proud to be in Mensa. They have to run a fierce intellectual gauntlet to be considered in the top 2% of people in intelligence. (That’s they only way they’ll let you in. Believe me, I tried other ways.) They have conventions, forums, journals, in short, all the stuff really smart people have. What they don’t have is any knowledge of Spanish! Una mensa in Spanish is a female idiot or fool or dolt. I’ve heard characters called mensos (the male counterpart) or mensas in Mexcian telenovelas. I read an account online (which I tried to locate, but now can’t) about a woman who proudly presented her Mensa credit card to a waiter in a Latino restaurant and the waiter was showing it around to the rest of the staff so they could have a good laugh. Of course, Ms. Top 2% was clueless. A society of geniuses? ¡Venga ya! (Come on!)

So there you are. Twenty originally Spanish words you may have a better appreciation of now. And oh, if you meet up with un largato grande (a big lizard), in order to survive, no sea menso (don’t be stupid). No luche contra el lagarto mano a mano.(Don’t fight the lizard hand to hand.)

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If you liked this article, please recommend it to others. It’s a product of Freaky Dude Books, where you’ll also find videos, poetry, moose jokes, and posts by Dr. Crankenfuss, kidlit’s crankiest curmudgeon.