Mexico · Mexican Spanishaguas
interjection · Informal
Watch out! Heads up! A warning of immediate danger, or of someone approaching who shouldn't overhear.
Mexico · Mexican Spanish
Mexican Slang
Mexican Spanish carries what is probably the densest slang vocabulary in the Spanish-speaking world, and the single most important thing to understand about it is register. The same word can be an insult, a term of endearment or a filler particle depending on tone and on who is in the room. Getting this wrong is the classic learner's mistake: the vocabulary is easy to acquire and easy to misuse.
A second feature is layering. Many terms carry an innocuous surface meaning and a second, cruder one underneath — the basis of albúr, the Mexican tradition of double-meaning wordplay. Where an entry below has that second layer, we flag it.
60 terms, each with definitions and worked examples.
By topic
Each page below collects every Mexican term we have on one subject, side by side.
Start with these
The terms below carry the most usage detail — register, origin and the situations where they go wrong. They are the ones worth reading in full before the rest.
All Mexican slang A–Z
60 terms
Terms beginning with A
ahorita
adverb · Colloquial
In a moment; shortly; at some unspecified point that may never arrive. Despite the diminutive suffix promising immediacy, ahorita is famously elastic — it can mean five minutes, five hours, or never.
+1 more sense
Use with care
ándale
interjection · Informal · AHN-dah-leh
Come on; hurry up. Urging someone along.
+2 more senses
antojo
noun · Colloquial
A craving — almost always for a specific food. The verb antojarse means 'to feel like having'.
antro
noun · Informal
A nightclub. In Mexico the word has lost its negative charge entirely and simply means a place you go dancing.
apapachar
verb · Informal · ah-pah-pah-CHAR
To cuddle, pamper, comfort. Carries a warmth that abrazar ('to hug') does not — it implies looking after someone, not just holding them.
Terms beginning with B
banda
noun · Informal
The crew; the group of friends; by extension, everyone present. Used with the definite article: la banda.
botana
noun · Colloquial
Snacks, nibbles — specifically the food put out alongside drinks.
bronca
noun · Informal
A problem or hassle. The clean alternative to pedo in this sense.
+1 more sense
Terms beginning with C
cabrón
noun, adjective · Vulgar
Between friends: mate, dude. An affectionate address term, roughly as strong as English 'bastard' used warmly.
+2 more senses
Use with care
caer gordo
phrase, idiom · Informal
To rub someone up the wrong way. Note the reversed grammar: the disliked person is the subject — me cae gordo, 'he falls fat to me', means 'I can't stand him'.
carnal
noun · Informal
Brother — either a literal sibling or a friend close enough to count as one. Stronger than cuate or compa.
chafa
adjective · Informal
Cheap, shoddy, low quality. Also used of counterfeits and of anything that fails to live up to its billing.
chale
interjection · Informal
Aw, man; damn. Disappointment or mild protest at bad news.
+1 more sense
chamba
noun · Informal · CHAHM-bah
Work; a job. Emphasises the earning of a living rather than a career — you look for chamba, you do not build one.
chavo
noun · Informal
A young person; a guy or girl roughly of teenage or student age. Neutral and very widely used.
chela
noun · Informal · CHEH-lah
A beer. The default informal word for one across Mexico.
chido
adjective · Informal · CHEE-doh
Cool, great, excellent. The default all-purpose compliment in Mexican Spanish, applied to objects, plans, people and situations alike.
+1 more sense
chilango
noun, adjective · Informal
A person from Mexico City; of Mexico City. Originally thrown as an insult by the rest of the country, now worn with pride by the capital itself.
chingón
adjective, noun · Vulgar
Awesome, badass, outstanding. Applied to things and situations.
+1 more sense
Use with care
chupe
noun · Informal
Booze; drinking. The verb chupar means 'to drink alcohol' in this register.
codo
adjective, noun · Informal
Stingy, tight-fisted.
compa
noun · Informal · KOHM-pah
Buddy, pal. A warm, unpretentious term for a friend, and a common way to address a man whose name you don't know.
cruda
noun · Informal
A hangover. Used with tener or andar: tengo cruda, ando crudo.
cuate
noun · Informal · KWAH-teh
Friend, mate. Slightly older-sounding than güey and warmer than a neutral amigo.
Terms beginning with D
dar el avión
phrase, idiom · Informal
To humour someone; to agree with everything they say purely to end the conversation, with no intention of acting on it.
de pelos
phrase, adjective · Informal
Brilliant, excellent, top-notch. An emphatic version of chido, and slightly dated — it peaked with an earlier generation.
desmadre
noun · Vulgar
Chaos, a total mess. Of a situation that has come apart.
+1 more sense
Use with care
Terms beginning with E
Terms beginning with F
Terms beginning with G
Terms beginning with H
hacer el paro
phrase, idiom · Informal
To do someone a favour; to cover for them or help them out of a bind.
híjole
interjection · Informal · EE-hoh-leh
Wow; geez; oh dear. Surprise, dismay or reluctant sympathy — and very often the sound of someone about to tell you no.
huevón
noun, adjective · Vulgar
A lazy person; idle, work-shy. The related noun hueva means idleness, and qué hueva means 'what a drag'.
Use with care
Terms beginning with J
Terms beginning with L
Terms beginning with M
mamón
adjective, noun · Informal
Stuck-up, full of oneself; also simply annoying. Describes someone who thinks they are above the company they are in.
Use with care
metiche
noun, adjective · Informal
A busybody; nosy. Someone who inserts themselves into matters that are none of their concern.
morro
noun · Informal
A kid or a young person; by extension a young man. The feminine morra means a young woman and, in context, a girlfriend.
Terms beginning with N
naco
adjective, noun · Informal
Tacky, vulgar, low-class. Applied to taste, behaviour and, unavoidably, to people.
Use with care
nel
interjection · Informal
Nope. A flat slang no, often extended to nel pastel purely for the rhyme.
neta
noun, adverb, interjection · Informal · NEH-tah
The truth; the real story. Usually with the article: la neta.
+2 more senses
ni modo
phrase · Colloquial
Oh well; nothing to be done. Resigned acceptance of something that cannot now be changed.
no mames
phrase, interjection · Vulgar
No way; you've got to be kidding. An exclamation of disbelief, which can be delighted, horrified or outraged depending entirely on tone.
+1 more sense
Use with care
no manches
phrase, interjection · Informal
No way; you're kidding. The socially safe version of no mames, with the same range of disbelief but none of the obscenity.
Terms beginning with O
Terms beginning with P
padre
adjective · Informal
Cool, great, nice. Interchangeable with chido in most contexts, and slightly softer — it is the version a parent is likelier to use.
peda
noun · Vulgar
A drinking session; a piss-up. Also the state of being very drunk: traía una peda tremenda.
Use with care
pedo
noun, adjective · Vulgar
A problem, hassle or bit of trouble. Often in the negative: no hay pedo, 'no problem'.
+2 more senses
Use with care
pendejo
noun, adjective · Vulgar
Idiot, fool. Stronger than tonto and weaker than the worst options available; it attacks judgement rather than intelligence.
+1 more sense
Use with care
pinche
adjective · Vulgar
Damn, bloody, lousy. An intensifier placed before a noun, expressing contempt for it: pinche tráfico, 'bloody traffic'.
+1 more sense
Use with care
ponerse buzo
phrase, idiom · Informal
To sharpen up; to pay close attention. Buzo alone functions as an adjective meaning alert or streetwise.
Terms beginning with Q
Terms beginning with R
Terms beginning with S
sale
interjection · Informal
Okay; deal; sounds good. Signals agreement to a plan, often doubled as sale y vale.
sangrón
adjective, noun · Informal
Unpleasant, snooty, hard work to be around. Milder than mamón and aimed at coldness rather than vanity.
simón
interjection · Informal
Yeah; yep. An emphatic slang yes.