If Nyan Cat have been a Spanish creation, wouldn’t it be spelled Ñan Cat? Nicely… sure, truly!
You possible already know phrases that include the letter ñ—think about año (12 months), mañana (morning, tomorrow) and bañarse (to have a shower).
However Ñan Cat truly begins with the letter ñ, and it’s actually not the one Spanish phrase that does.
The truth is, a lot of my college students are shocked once I inform them there are some phrases that begin with this letter which might be used every single day!
So with out additional ado, listed below are 23+ Spanish phrases that begin with ñ which might be both generally used or have a very fascinating historical past.
Contents
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English: Mrs.
The shape Ña is a shortened model of the phrase Doña, utilized in entrance of the names of aged girls. Ña is particularly utilized in rural South America.
English: Mr.
A shortened model of Señor, utilized in entrance of the identify of aged males in rural South America.
English: Wildebeest, gnu
This is likely one of the phrases on this record virtually each Spanish-speaking individual is aware of.
I keep in mind they taught us this phrase at school after we have been studying the alphabet. From that second on, I by no means forgot it.
El ñu azul es hervívoro. (The blue wildebeest is a herbivore.)
English: Bland, uninteresting, blah, boring, drippy, namby-pamby
Ñoño is one other phrase that could be very generally used, particularly in Spain.
It will probably seek advice from each issues and folks, and it has fairly a variety of meanings, however all of them have one thing in widespread: blandness, boredom, lack of life.
This phrase is an adjective, so it has to agree in gender and quantity with the noun it modifies:
Eres una persona muy ñoña. (You’re a very boring individual.)
¡Qué ñoño eres! (You’re so drippy!)
English: Shut buddy; spoiled; gay; brother; child
In accordance with the DRAE, ñaño can be utilized as an adjective and a noun.
I had personally by no means heard of it earlier than, however it’s extensively utilized in some South American international locations:
- In Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru, it refers to an in depth buddy.
- In Colombia and Panama, it means “spoiled,” as in a spoiled youngster.
- In Panama, it’s also used to seek advice from a gay individual.
- In components of Argentina, Bolivia and Ecuador it means “brother” (identical mom and father).
- In Peru, it’s also used to seek advice from a baby.
English: Pug-nosed; boxer
Having grown up watching telenovelas means I heard the phrase ñato rather a lot as a baby, despite the fact that now I don’t usually use this phrase.
Ñato is a primarily Latin American phrase used to seek advice from individuals who have a pug nostril. The equal in Spain is chato.
It was humorous for me to find this phrase additionally means “boxer” in Uruguay. It should be as a result of most of them get their noses smashed in the end!
English: The Satan
That is how folks in Honduras seek advice from the satan. Creepy.
English: Inanity; insipidness; spinelessness
Each of those Spanish phrases are nouns that come from the phrase ñoño (see above). They’re each used to seek advice from individuals who both are ñoño or are merely appearing prefer it.
English: Gnocchi
Proper right here you may see the love we’ve for “Spanishizing” each phrase we are able to. The entire world pronounces this phrase virtually the identical, however we determined to additionally write it in Spanish.
(It jogs my memory of the phrase fútbol (soccer), and I nonetheless don’t know methods to really feel about it!)
English: Intrusive, indiscreet
This phrase is used primarily in Cuba to seek advice from an individual who desires to know approach an excessive amount of.
English: Junk
This is likely one of the phrases on this record that’s not generally used anymore.
It initially referred to a touring theater firm consisting of solely two folks. Afterward, it started to imply “junk” or “stuff,” as in “lots of impractical, ineffective issues.”
English: Rhea (South American ostrich)
The ñandú is the second animal on this record.
I keep in mind studying this phrase once I was a child, and we truly used to seek advice from it because the ostrich whose identify begins with ñ.
English: Laziness
Ñáñara is an incredible phrase with two ñ’s, and it’s a colloquial approach of claiming pereza (laziness) in Honduras.
English: Overweight
The phrase ñomblo is how Nicaraguan folks say obeso (overweight).
English: To snort
Ñatear is how they are saying esnifar (to snort) in Nicaragua.
Do you keep in mind the phrase ñato (pug-nosed)? They belong to the identical household of phrases!
English: Chew
A ñangazo is a mordisco (chunk) in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic.
Take note of the ending -azo, which is a Spanish suffix primarily used as an augmentative.
English: Insanity
I’ve liked this phrase ever since I discovered it. They use it in Panama to say locura (insanity), as in when somebody loses their thoughts.
¡Qué ñamería! (What a insanity!)
English: A kind of tree within the pea household
The ñandubay (Latin identify prosopis affinis) is a flowering tree of the pea household native to Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
It’s a melliferous tree. Yummy!
English: To go loopy / Loopy
Ñampearse is a pronominal verb used colloquially in Panama to say somebody has gone loopy (has misplaced their thoughts).
The previous participle ñampeado is generally used as an adjective that means loco (loopy).
English: Nice horned owl
The final animal on this record within the nice horned owl, or the ñacurutú.
I personally had no concept this animal existed, however if you happen to ever journey to Argentina, Paraguay or Uruguay, you might be in all probability in for a deal with.
English: Division in Paraguay / Individuals born on this Division
It is a very particular pair of phrases, however I wished so as to add them as a result of they sound so swish to me.
Ñeembucú is a Division (administrative area) in Paraguay. Individuals born there are referred to as ñeembuqueños.
English: A Cuban secret society / Individuals on this society
I’m together with these two phrases as a result of once I found them I used to be completely fascinated.
The Ñáñigos are members of a Cuban secret society for males, just like the Freemasons. You probably have a while, you may learn a little bit bit about them right here.
Ñañiguismo is the phrase that refers to practising the canons established by this society.
English: To squat; to humiliate onself; to be disheartened
Ñangotarse is a verb primarily utilized in Puerto Rico and a few components of the Dominican Republic.
It has three most important meanings, which in normal Spanish could be ponerse en cuclillas (to squat), humillarse (actually “to humiliate oneself”) and perder el ánimo (to be disheartened, actually “to lose one’s spirit”).
The variations in that means are large enough for me to surprise how individuals are capable of perceive what’s being stated… however then once more, I stay in a rustic (Poland) the place the identical phrase can imply a lock, a fort and a zipper. It’s all about context!
The Historical past and Pronunciation of the Letter Ñ
Earlier than the printing press was invented, Latin scribes needed to copy books by hand in an effort to distribute them to a number of folks. This was very time-consuming work, so across the twelfth century, some scribes created a system to save lots of effort and time.
They began including a tilde ~ (to not be confused with the Spanish tilde or accent mark) over some letters to point that the letter was, in actual fact, doubled.
A few centuries handed and this technique was someway forgotten—apart from one double letter: nn. Scribes stored utilizing the tilde once they encountered a double n, and so, with time, the letter ñ grew to become a letter in its personal proper.
As a rule, the letter ñ in Spanish signifies that the unique Latin phrase contained a double n. There are, nonetheless, different letter combos, like gn and ni, that will additionally develop into an ñ with time:
signa → seña (signal)
Hispania → España (Spain)
A search on Palabrasque lists 13,573 Spanish phrases containing the letter ñ. These days, it isn’t solely an unbiased letter that may be present in Spanish dictionaries, but in addition a logo of the Spanish language.
Typically, the pronunciation of ñ is a supply of stress for Spanish learners, particularly when it seems originally of a phrase.
Assuming you recognize English, nonetheless, you should utilize some pretty widespread English phrases to apply this sound. Say “canyon” or “onion” and give attention to the bolded sound—that’s the ñ we have been in search of.
So, Spanish incorporates lots of phrases that embrace the letter ñ, however solely a fraction of them begin with it.
It’s now your flip to be taught them and use them together with your Spanish-speaking associates—I wager they don’t know all of them!
Obtain:
This weblog submit is on the market as a handy and transportable PDF that you simply
can take anyplace.
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