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"That cangrimán is really cool to you, asere. Although on his birthday there were a lot of cachachás, pure guarifaifa really, there was also chivito, pipocas and drink. And today I have chuchaqui, shame."
It would not be common for someone to mix all these words from diverse origins in Latin America in the same sentence. But, if you did, you would be including pure words that are now included in the latest version of the Dictionary of the Spanish Language.
The new edition, the 24th, is the first "digital native" dictionary, although it will have a printed version.
The previous edition was from 2014 and, although there have been updates, this is the completely renewed version.
There are more than 6,000 new entries. And they are words that reflect the new times: influencer, podcast, fatphobia, performative, metaverse or narcolancha.
There are many developments related to new technologies or social networks, such as artificial intelligence, rendering or apps.
In the field of health there are some new voices such as heart-healthy, superbacteria or bioindicator.
It also includes words related to the environment such as garbage or eco-anxiety.
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And, on the gastronomy side, we have delicious new words, like burrata, poke (or poké), ramen or tosta.
The dictionary is prepared by the Royal Spanish Academy in collaboration with the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language (Asale).
Thus, for this new edition, it has a significant number of Latin American voices.
The contribution of Latin America
One of the most interesting new features of the new edition is that, when it comes to collecting where a word comes from, the supranational geographical marks that appeared in the 23rd edition, such as America, South America, Central America and the Antilles, have been replaced by those of the corresponding specific countries.
And not only that. At the proposal of the academies, 1,490 demonyms and 1,570 voices have been incorporated for exclusive use in the different Spanish-speaking countries.
The meanings with some brand from American countries amount to 20,672 in total.
In the official presentation of the dictionary, each of the directors or presidents of academies that make up Asale, chose their favorite word within their region.
The Colombian academy chose guámbito or guámbita; the Ecuadorian, yamor; the Mexican -represented by the last winner of the Cervantes Prize, Gonzalo Celorio-, asegunes; the Salvadoran, morro or morra; the Venezuelan, yisero; the Chilean, merkén; the Peruvian, hiker; the Guatemalan, mengala; the Costa Rican, pochotón or pochotona; the Panamanian, sopotohundreds, sopotohundres.
For its part, the Cuban academy selected Asere; the Paraguayan, balaterapia; the Bolivian, amartelo, the Dominican, medalaganario; the Argentine, chepibe; the Uruguayan, chivito; the Honduran, nenequear; or the Puerto Rican, cangrimán.
And, below, we explain some of these words, the ones we mentioned at the beginning of the article and others...
Some of the new Latin American words in the dictionary
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Acitronar: this Mexican word comes from acitron, which is the stem of the Mexican biznaga (cactus). But this specific verb is used in Mexico in cooking to refer to frying some vegetables, generally onion and garlic, until they become translucent.
Amartelo: this word came to the dictionary from Bolivia, which refers to a physical state and low mood, like a deep melancholy with a mixture of absence and nostalgia, similar to guava in Venezuela or saudade in Brazil.
Asegunes: another word that comes from Mexico, whose registration is popular, from colloquial speech, and means conditions or inconveniences.
Asere: also in a colloquial tone, this word from Cuba is used to refer to a person with whom one has a very close friendship. Similar to the corduroy of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Ecuador and Venezuela; to the Mexican guy or the guy from Peru and Bolivia.
Disgusting: if on a street in Caracas you see a food stand and you ask for a soft bread filled with a sausage, various vegetables, French fries, onions and sauces in abundance - oh, the corn one, how divine -, you will be ordering a hot dog. Or a creep.
Bolaterapia: imagine that someone tells you a story. A huge story, full of incredible things, nonsense and lies. In Paraguay they will tell you that this is balaterapia.
Bonchón: that person who likes bochinche; That is, someone fond of going to parties, parties, and merrymaking.
Bondi: if in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay you get on a bus, they will tell you that you took a bondi, a word that comes from the Brazilian Portuguese "bonde" (tram) which, in turn, comes from the English "bond".
Brigid: when something is tremendous, very intense, amazing or difficult to believe, in Chile they say that it is something brigid.
Cachachá: like corotos, this Venezuelan word refers to several pods, a group of things. How to use it? "Hold your cachachás there, girl, you have everything scattered around there."
Cainar: among the new words in the dictionary, there are several that arise from the native languages of Latin America, like this one, which comes from the Quechua word, kainana, which originally means "waste time" and is now used in Ecuador as "spend free or leisure time enjoying an activity."
Cangrimán: from the English congressman, this word is used in Puerto Rico to refer to a person of great power or influence.
Chepibe: also from Argentina, this colloquially used word refers to the person who, within a group or organization, is in charge of carrying out errands and procedures.
Chivito: if in Venezuela you eat a disgusting one, in Uruguay, you have this sandwich made of grilled meat, usually cow.
Chuchaqui: and if you decided to accompany the goat with an extra drink or, simply, you didn't even eat, the next day you might get chuchaqui, which is what they call hangover in Ecuador or, as they say in Colombia, guava.
Corillo: "what is there, corillo?" Surely you have heard Bad Bunny say this, that in Puerto Rico it is a group of people who relate to each other out of friendship or some common interest.
Birthday: one of the new words they included in the dictionary is this colloquial way of saying birthday. The word "porfa" is also included, an abbreviation of "please."
Guámbito/a: in Colombia it is one of the many ways they have to refer to children or adolescents. There are also others, such as peeled or peeled.
Guarifaifa: when something is of little importance or you don't know how to name it, in Chile it is a guarifaifa. Whatever, well...
Medalaganario/a: from the combination of "me da la gana" and the suffix -ario and -aria, we get this creative word from the Dominican Republic to refer to a person who acts arbitrarily, without criteria.
Mengala: the word chosen by the Guatemalan Language Academy to highlight in this edition is the country's traditional costume, which consists of a long skirt and a lace blouse with bright and intense colors, but the word also refers to the woman who wears said costume.
Merkén: in the case of Chile they chose this word, which is a traditional condiment of Mapuche cuisine made from dried and smoked chili.
Morro/a: although this word is used in both Mexico and El Salvador, it was this second country that wanted to promote it in this edition. On both sides it refers to child or boy.
Nenequear: from another Central American country, in this case, Honduras, comes this word that is like chinear that is also used in the Central American region. In this case, nenequear, of nene and neneco, is to treat someone, but especially children, with too much gift, affection and condescension.
Pipocas: another word of indigenous origin, in this case coming from the Tupi pi'poka; literally "exploding skin", a Bolivian word to refer to popcorn or popcorn, cotufas, popcorn, crispetas, goats, canguil, canchitas...
Pochotón/a: from Costa Rica they chose this word that is usually said to a healthy and robust person.
Hiker: you may think that this word was already in the dictionary. And yes, to refer to a person who hikes, who walks. But in the end the dictionary is usually a reflection of those who speak the language, and from Peru they asked to include this word as a synonym for "member, belonging to or related to the Peruvian terrorist organization Sendero Luminoso."
Sopotohundreds: from the union of an invented popular element -sopoto-, and the numeral -hundreds-, this word comes from Panama to talk about a very high number of people or things.
Yamor: the word chosen by the Ecuadorian Language Academy is this fermented drink that is made with some varieties of sprouted, sun-dried, toasted and ground corn. It is also a popular traditional festival in a locality in the country.
Yisero: if you want to climb Ávila, the mountain range that surrounds Caracas, you will most likely do it in a jeep, that all-terrain vehicle... Yes, jeep, the brand. Well, if where you are going is called that, whoever drives the jeep, then he is a yisero.
Vergation: possibly when you see so many words -and those that remain to be included- you will have said this very Venezuelan expression that serves to express surprise, protest, disgust or rejection. And it is rude, yes, but sometimes it gives a terrible pleasure to say it like a curse.
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