Learn Spanish Swear Words, Curse Like a Pro

At Migaku, we believe language learning isn’t about textbooks and grammar exercises—it’s about real, raw, authentic communication.

We're, uhh, going to get pretty raw and authentic.

(I have no idea how I got permission to write this blog post.)

Behold:

🛑 Disclaimer: Swear Responsibly!

I'm not a fun hater, so I'll keep this brief.

Don't go and insult your teacher, don't tell the guy doing Taco Tuesday that you're going to do something questionable to his mother.

You should know that our perception of vulgarity and insult is dulled in foreign languages—things just get lost in translation. Unfortunately, while you won't be able to feel the impact of these beautiful bombs you're dropping, the person you're talking to will.

Plus, the Spanish speaking world is huge. Something that may be a totally PG word in Spain could be R-rated in Mexico.

So, you know, use some discretion here.

🔥 One big beautiful table of Spanish curse words, exclamations, and insults

I assume you're not here to read fine literature, so I'm just going to jump right into things.

Note that many of these words are quite flexible in usage, and some may be more/less severe from place to place. Down below we'll pick out a handful of the more common words and discuss them in more detail, but for now, here's a table to give you a rough idea of what the most common Spanish swear words mean.

Note: I've done my best to eyeball the severity of these words, but please don't treat this as gospel. To be safe, consider waiting to use these until you've had an opportunity to observe a native speaker using them.

🟢 Very mild Spanish swear words you can use freely

Now that we've got the heavy-hitting stuff out of the way, here are some more mild expressions that Spanish speakers use when they want to swear but it wouldn't be proper to use the Big Boy words from the above table.

👀 Some Spanish bad words worth taking a closer look at

I'll have you know that I'm working overtime for you, amigo. I "hijo de puta"'d more than once while working on that first list because, fortunately and unfortunately, cursing is an art. Many of these words just can't quite be done justice with a single line in a table.

If you've read this far, I'll assume that you're here for more than just a Spanish insult to throw at your coworker or uncle, so we're going to take a closer look at some of Spanish's most common curse words.

(I spent a glorious couple hours looking through blog posts and social media for example sentences. All of the below example sentences are things I observed real people saying. For whatever reason, I felt inclined to inform you of this.)

Joder, which means "fuck" and is just as flexible as the English equivalent

Joder means "fuck" (as in "have intercourse"), but it isn't quite as strong as "fuck" in English. It's probably the most common swear word in Spanish—especially in Spain.

Just like English's fuck, joder has a pleasantly wide array of usages:

Puta, one of the more rude Spanish insults, but also a wonderful compliment (a la "~ de puta madre")

While "puta madre" is a very strong expression akin to "mother fucker", the addition of a tiny little "de" turns it into an equally strong compliment—something along the lines of "the shit".

Interestingly, "puto" (a derogatory slur for a male sex worker) is a beloved chant by Mexican soccer fans, used when an opposing player lines up to take a penalty kick.

As with joder from above, you'll see puto used in an impressively wide variety of scenarios:

Cabrón, a flexible word you can call someone you dislike and someone you like

This word has some nuance. While it's strongly insulting if used toward someone you don't know, it can be endearing/positive/humorous if used between friends.

A few examples:

Chingar, what may be the most famous word in Spanish (as spoken in Mexico)

Chingar is a strong bit of Mexican profanity that's hard to pin down. It comes from cingarár, which means "to fight" in Caló, the language of Spanish/Portuguese Romani, but now boasts an impressive nine definitions in the Royal Academy of Spanish Dictionary. These definitions cover everything from "engaging in coitus" to "drinking liquor heavily" to "cutting the tail off an animal".

It's also featured in a song by Molotov, a Mexican band famous for their use of profanity. I would be remiss to write a blog post about Spanish curse words and not introduce you to them, so here you go:

Anyway, here's a small sampling of the ways you'll see chingar used in Spanish:

🌍 Regional Differences: Spain vs Mexico vs Latin America

As you likely know, the Spanish-speaking world is vast. There's over 20 Spanish-speaking countries. That's enough room for the seeds of chaos to do their thing. In the same way as cunt is a very strong word in the United States but quite acceptable in Australia, the impact of a number of Spanish swear words changes from place to place.

I won't dwell on this too much, but just to make a point:

So, you know, know your audience! If you're going to start swearing in Spanish, take a bit of time to learn how people swear in your country of focus 💪

🧠 A jodidamente incredible way to learn Spanish curse words like "hijo de puta"

Let's be real for a moment: if you want to learn bad words in Spanish, this is kind of on you. Your teacher isn't going to drop these in class (or so I hope), and you're definitely not going to run into them on Duolingo or something like that.

At Migaku, we happen to think that's a shame.

Bad words in Spanish, like any other bit of Spanish vocabulary, are used to express how people really feel—they're an important part of being human.

With this in mind, it's worth knowing several of the most common Spanish curse words, even if you don't plan on using them. This is due to the very simple fact that if you're engaging with native Spanish speakers in any meaningful capacity, you're going to hear Spanish profanity.

So, here's how you're going to go about learning all these dirty words that the Spanish language is blessed with:

Step 1. Consume media you enjoy from Spanish-speaking countries

I won't claim to have perused every Spanish textbook, but I have used a few, and what I immediately noticed was a distinct lack of coño and joder. (No wonder American students study Spanish for 4 years but graduate unable to say much beyond ¿dónde está el baño?—their teachers skip the important stuff!)

Anyway—that's a different blog post.

The point is that, if you want to learn real Spanish, you're going to need to consume media that includes real Spanish speakers talking about real things in Spanish.

So, say you're listening to this MexTalki episode entitled "The School of Memes":

And you can't help but notice the word pendejada there. This throws you off, as you're somewhat a connoisseur of Spanish curse words, but you haven't ran into this one yet. (Hence the red underline.)

What's a cabrón such as yourself to do?

Step 2. Click on any words and phrases you don't know

Just click on it, right in the subtitles.

Ahh! But of course. Pendejada, coming from the word pendejo, means something along the lines of bullshit or asshattery.

Step 3. Make flashcards out of useful words

Pendejada is indeed a gorgeous gem of Spanish profanity, so it's understandable that you'd like to tuck it away in your back pocket for use later on.

Go ahead and click that orange button in the top-right corner of the dictionary explanation:

Migaku fetches a screenshot of your YouTube (or Netflix) show, takes a small recording of the audio, fetches the subtitle, and combines all this to prepare a flashcard. You can tweak it if you want (I don't, personally). The end result looks like this:

Step 4. Swear like a native (or don't)

That's it! Consume Spanish media you find enjoyable, whether it's from YouTube or Netflix or even a book online, stumble into swear words, then make flashcards out of the ones that look promising.

Our flashcard system is supported by a spaced-repetition algorithm, so once you've made your cards, we'll nudge you to review them periodically until they've wedged themselves firmly in your long-term memory.

What you do with this knowledge is up to you 💪

👑 Learn bad words in Spanish and improve as a byproduct of entertaining yourself

If you're reading a post like this, it shows that you're interested in Spanish as it's actually spoken, textbooks be damned, and that's an important step.

You see, while learning Spanish isn't easy, it's actually pretty simple:

So, study—but also live. Go watch some Spanish TV shows like Narcos or something like that. (You'll hear a lot of these words there, lol.)

Basically: The more you use Spanish, the faster you'll learn.

Suerte! 🫡