jevo

What it means

1. 1.

   A boyfriend or girlfriend — jevo for him, jeva for her. Lighter than novio: a jevo is who you are seeing, a novio is who you are committed to, and calling someone the wrong one starts arguments.

2. 2.

   Of a woman with no relationship implied, jeva simply means a young woman, roughly 'girl'. The masculine is not used this way.

Examples with translations

• Ella vino con su jevo.

  She came with her boyfriend.

• Había un montón de jeva' en el teteo.

  There were loads of girls at the party.

• No e' mi novio, e' mi jevo.

  He's not my boyfriend exactly — we're seeing each other.

  Note: The distinction is real and speakers make it deliberately.

Where it comes from

Origin uncertain, and it is shared with Puerto Rican and Venezuelan Spanish. A derivation from English 'heavy' is sometimes proposed but does not account for the feminine's separate 'young woman' sense, and there is no evidence for it beyond the resemblance to jevi.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

jeva, jevito, jevita