El Salvador Language -
Words You Should Know!

The official El Salvador language is Spanish, but Salvadorians also speak using many other words that have been “Salvadorianized”.

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Having grown up in El Salvador, I am very familiar with those unique phrases and words that make the language of El Salvador so great and unique.

You no doubt will hear and may even want to use these words and phrases during your stay there.

People will warm up to you even more if they see that you try to “speak like them”, so give it a try, you have nothing to lose!

Take the word “perro” (dog) for example, you may want to say “el perro es negro’ (the dog is black), but a Salvadorian standing next to you might say instead:

"EL CHUCHO ES NEGRO” or even “EL CHUCHO AGUACATERO ES NEGRO”.

If you don’t know what “chucho” or “aguacatero” means, you’ll have no idea what they are talking about and that will be to your disavantage :-(

To help you avoid that, I am going to share with you some of the most common words and phrases that are unique to El Salvador language.

I will also give some pointers of what words NOT to use because they might have a negative or offensive connotation there.

This is a good starting list, I will continue to add to it as more words come to my mind.

• Achicar – To embarrass someone, to belittle
• Aguacatero – Said of a dog that is not pure bred, a mutt
• Ajolotado - Someone inpatient who is always rushing
• Apiarse - To get off something, usually from a vehicle (usually said by people from the country side)
• Baboso/babosa – Dumb
• Bayunco/bayunca - Someone who is being silly
• Bicho/bicha – A child
• Bolado - Something you don't know what is called (ese bolado - that thing)
• Bolo – A drunkard
• Cabalito – Exactly, perfectly (los zapatos me quedan cabalitos – the shoes fit me perfectly)
• Chele - Someone with light skin colour
• Chiche – Easy (aprender Español es chiche) --- be careful how you use this word because it is also used to refer to a woman’s breast
• Chivo – Awesome, great (el viaje estuvo chivo – the trip was awesome)
• Cholo - Someone with a heavy build
• Chucho – Dog
• Chuco – Dirty
• Chuco – Also the name of a hot drink – Atol Chuco
• Chunche - An old thing that is not used for much
• Cipote/Cipota – A child
• De goma – To have a hangover
• Embolar – To get drunk
• Gringo – A person of Caucasian descent, it's not meant as an insult in El Salvador but rather just to state a person’s background
• Guanaco – A Salvadorian person, again it’s not meant as an insult
• Güaro - Booze
• Güevón/guevona - A lazy person
• Huacal – A basin, usually made of plastic used to get water
• Mara – Gang
• Marero – Gangster
• Meter la pata - To make a mistake
• Meter Paja – To tell lies
• Pisto – Money (dame todo tu pisto – give me all your money)
• Rai – A ride (me puede dar un rai por favor? – can you give me a ride please?)
• Salú - Friendly goodbye (informal)
• Vaya pues – OK that's fine

As you can see, El Salvador language is rich, descriptive and a lot of fun!!!

I know you will definitely hear some or all of these words and phrases during your vacation in El Salvador, so familiarize yourself with them, and use them, it's fun.

It's all part of what makes Salvadorian people Salvadorian - unique and easy going.

But there are also some words and phrases that you should be careful to use when talking to people, here are some of them to get you started.

Have I missed any words or phrases that you think are part of the El Salvador language, drop us a line, tell us the words, the meaning and how you use them.

You can help our visitors who want to get familiar with El Salvador language.

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