Are you looking to understand the basics of Argentine swear words? Then you are in the right place!
More often than not, students are eager to learn how to curse in a new language.
After all, insults and swear words are part of the culture behind the language, and even if you don’t really swear a lot (I’m rather clean myself… at least for Argentinian standards lol) you should know them.
But it’s important that students know how to use them properly, in order not to convey an unintended meaning or offend people. We don’t want that!
That’s why I’m going to decode for you all of the basic Argentine swear words one by one.
Are you ready? Let’s go!
[“Note: The following article discusses cultural expressions, including some colorful or explicit language. It’s meant to entertain and educate about Argentinian Spanish, not to encourage offensive behavior. Please don’t take offense, and remember, context is key when using these phrases!”]
Argentine swear words
Argentinians can be really creative when it comes to finding new ways to insult somebody. It’s an art!
In 2018, Argentina lost 6-1 to Spain during a friendly football match preparing for the World Cup that was held later that year in Russia.
Big was the surprise of Spaniards when they went to Twitter to comment about the result and they found a bunch of insults by Argentinian users angry the players of their national team.
Most insults were rather simplistic, but some were totally different from what Spaniards were used to hear. Way more creative.
So much that Cadena SER, the most listened radio network in Spain, compiled five of them.
Here their literal translations: slide for lice, cemetery of cannelloni, meat bangs, knee head (my favorite), and choripán (= chorizo sandwich) terrorist.
You can see the level of creativity and absurdity. But before you manage to understand these, you need to grasp the basics.
So here they are: the most 9 popular Argentine swear words!
List of basic Argentine insults
1) Hijo de puta
Literal translation: son of a whore.
English equivalent: son of a bitch.
Although this one is universal, there are some interesting variations. My favorite one is hijo de mil putas, which is perfect when you need to intensify it.
And there’s a really funny variation made in Argentina: hijo de un transatlántico lleno de putas.
Translated into English, that would be ‘son of an ocean liner full of whores’. Poetic.
2) La concha de tu madre / hermana
Literal translation: the cunt of your mother / sister.
English equivalent: God damn you, go fuck yourself
Here it’s important to pay attention to the possessive pronoun. If it’s in third person singular (su), the meaning is more like ‘shit’ or ‘fuck’. It’s common to use the first person (mi) too, in that sense.
A milder way to express the same idea is by using la concha de la lora. What does lora mean? A female parrot lol.
When we use the possessive pronoun tu, we aim the insult at someone in particular and it’s then when it acquires a meaning similar to that of ‘God damn you’.
Watch Lionel Messi using it against a rival player during El Clásico (Real Madrid vs. Barcelona)!
It’s also usually used with the verb ir in imperative behind, andá. In that case, it translates as ‘fuck off’ or ‘go fuck yourself’.
3) La puta que te parió
Literal translation: the whore that gave birth to you.
English equivalent: God damn you, go fuck yourself
Pretty much the same as the previous one. Again the key difference is the pronoun. If you say la puta que lo parió (lo the neutral pronoun), it just means ‘fuck’ or ‘shit’.
Do you want to express your anger at someone? Use the direct object pronoun te instead! Or los for plural, meaning either ‘them’ or ‘you’ for a group of people.
4) Cagón
Literal translation: shitter (a person who defecates)
English equivalent: chicken
If Back to the Future was set in Argentina, Marty McFly wouldn´t like to be called this!
5) Forro
Literal translation: lining, cover
English equivalent: jerk, dick, asshole
This one is used to refer to a bad person. Forro is also a colloquial word for ‘condom’ in Latin America.
And speaking of that, you might be interested in knowing what a preservativo really means in Spanish.
6) Pelotudo
Literal translation: with big balls
English equivalent: idiot, dumbass, jerk
If having big balls in English actually refers to a person that has courage, well, that idea exists in Spanish too. But pelotudo definitely doesn’t mean that!
I have written an article where I explain the difference between boludo and pelotudo in Argentine Spanish (featuring Robert de Niro!).
7) Cerrá el orto
Literal translation: close your ass
English equivalent: shut your hole
Well, orto is a vulgar term for culo, which means ‘ass’ in Spanish. I’m not sure about the origin here either, but in English, for example, when someone talks nonsense, ‘shit’ is used sometimes.
So I guess this Argentine rude way to tell someone to stop talking makes some sense.
8) Chupame la pija
Literal translation: suck my dick
English equivalent: blow me.
Other variations are just chupala (suck it) and chupamela, where me is the indirect object pronoun (to whom).
Chupala is slightly milder than the full phrase and it works well for both men and women. Why la and not lo? I guess it’s because pija (vulgar for ‘penis’ in Argentina) is feminine, as well as concha (vulgar for ‘vagina’).
Women can say chupame la pija as well, but some prefer chupame la concha as an alternative.
9) Dejame de hinchar / romper las pelotas
Literal translation: don’t swell/break my balls
English equivalent: quit being such a pest / a pain in the ass
Another one involving the male genitalia! Such a strange fascination Argentines seem to have with it…
Anyways, there’s also variation specifically for women! You just need to replace bolas for ovarios (‘ovaries’ in English).
People who would rather not curse say dejate de hinchar, without completing the phrase.
And that’s all for today!
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Thank you very much and until next time,
Kevin.