Jerga Chilena

In Chile, there are loads of words which just don’t exist in any other Spanish speaking country. They’re known as ‘chilenismos’. Here is a list of the ones that I’ve come across.

WEÓN

a) Dude/Mate

¿Cómo estai weón?
How are you man?

b) Idiot

¡Que es súper weón!
This guy’s an idiot!

PO

No significa nada — just used for emphasis.

¿A dónde vamos po?
Where are we going?

¿Vamos a tomar unas cervezas po?
Shall we have some beers?

BACÁN

Simply means COOL 😎

¡Que bacán!
How cool!

¿CACHAI?

Translates to ‘You know what I mean?’ ‘ You understand?’

Hay que escuchar al podcast. ¿Cachai?
You have to listen to the podcast. You know what I mean?

POLOLO/POLOLA

Boyfriend/Girlfriend ❤️

‘Pololear’ can also be a verb.

¿Es tu polola?
Is she your girlfriend?

¿Están pololeando?
Are they dating?

CUICO/CUICA

Pronounced ‘cwee’ — ‘co’

Means posh/people with money, but more so the snobby attitude.

Este weón es súper cuico.
This guy is super posh.

FOME

Pronounced ‘fom’ — ‘ey’.

Basically means ‘boring’.

Esa película es muy fome.
That film is very boring.

CARRETE

Chileans use the word ‘carrete’ for ‘party’ 🎉

¿Vas al carrete po?
Are you going to the party?

‘Carretear’ is a verb which means ‘to party’.

AL TIRO

It means ‘right away’ and is widely used in Chile.

Llámala al tiro.
Call her right away.

CAÑA

In Spain a ‘caña’ is a small glass of beer, but in Chile it means ‘hangover’.

Tengo caña.
I’m hungover.

COPETE

This word refers to an alcoholic drink 🍻

Salimos a tomar unos copetes.
We went out for some drinks.

CURADO/A

Means ‘drunk’ or ‘wasted’ after a night ‘de carrete’ (of partying).

Estaba completamente curado.
I was totally wasted.

FLAITE

I’m not entirely sure how acceptable this word is to use, but it’s definitely heard in Chile so worth knowing.

It refers to people from a lower social class, usually younger people who are up to no good. I guess the English equivalent is ‘chav’ but as I said I’m hesitant to ever use it.

Ese weon es súper flaite.
That guy is super chavvy.

PEGA

‘Pegar’ means to hit or strike in Spanish, however in Chile it means ‘work’ or ‘job’ 👔

¡Por fin he encontrado una pega!
Finally I’ve found a job!

GUAGUA

Pronounced ‘wa’ — ‘wa’ 👼🏼

Means ‘baby’ in Chile.

¿Cómo se llama tu guagua?
What’s your baby called?

MICRO

In Santiago, the buses which run across the city are called ‘micros’ 🚌

Hay que tomar la micro.
You have to take the bus.

TACO

Not the food, but in Chile this word means ‘traffic (jam)’🚦

Había un taco enorme en Santiago hoy.
There was an enormous traffic jam in Santiago today.

GUATÓN/GUATONA

Pronounced ‘wa’ — ‘ton’.

Means ‘fat’ or ‘fatty’, I first heard it when I was playing Mario Kart at a Chilean friend’s house and they used the word to describe Wario…

¡Mira a ese guatón!
Look at that fatty!

TINCAR

This is a very Chilean verb which means ‘to feel like’ or ‘fancy doing something’.

¿Te tinca ir al cine esta noche?
Do you fancy going to the cinema tonight?

PUCHA

The equivalent to ‘hostia’ in Spain as it’s used when something doesn’t go your way❗

¡Pucha! Olvidé mi cartera en casa.
Damn! I forgot my wallet at home.

LUCA

The equivalent of 1000 pesos. It’s a much shorter way than saying a long number!

e.g Instead of saying 4000 pesos you can say 4 luca 💸

PACO

The national police force in Chile is known as the ‘carabineros’. But a more informal way and one often used at protests is to call the police ‘pacos’ which means ‘pigs’ or ‘cops’ 🐖

Mira, hay un paco allí.
Look, there’s a cop over there.

WEA

Used to mean ‘thing’ in an informal context.

¿Cómo se llama esa wea?
What’s that thing called?

YA PO

Another affirmation used at the end of a sentence which means ‘yup’ or ‘ok’.

¡Por favor que limpies tu habitación!
¡Ya po!

Please clean your room!
Ok!

¿CÓMO ESTAI?

You can probably guess this means ‘how are you?’, but yes the verb conjugation is slightly different.

Sometimes the ‘tú’ form of a verb in Chile is conjugated in such a way, don’t ask why.

PALTA

A staple in any Chilean diet and referred to as ‘aguacate’ in most other Spanish speaking countries. Palta = avocado 🥑

¿Quieres palta?
Do you want avocado?

ESTAR CHATO

First heard this when my Chilean friend Pancho was talking about the COVID situation. It means ‘to be fed up with’.

Estoy chato de esta pandemia.
I’m fed up with this pandemic.

LOLO/LOLA

This is how Chileans refer to ‘teenagers’.

Ese lolo siempre está en su celular.
That teenager is always on his phone.

EFE (F)

This is one you can use to get down with the youngsters, more specifically the Tik Tok generation. Quite simply, you just say ‘EFE’ or put the letter ‘F’ over message as a reply to something bad that has happened to someone. Apparently it comes from a meme (like everything nowadays) which said ‘press F to pay respect… 📱