Even if you don’t swear or use bad words in English, you know what they are. You learned what they were at some point in your life, even if the only reason was to avoid them. The same principle can be used while learning Spanish. I don’t swear a lot in English, right now. There was a time when I swore a lot. I’m not planning on swearing a lot in Spanish, but I wanted to know, partly for curiosity and partly to know when I was being insulted or made fun of.

Also you want to make sure you’re not insulting anyone by accident by saying the wrong word or a word in the wrong way. Knowing profanity doesn’t make you a profane person, it makes you smarter so you know which words to avoid.

What I found was that it depends on what country you’re going to or in my case, where the people you’re talking to came from. Swearing has more to do with the local slang and how certain words have a meaning in one country and may mean something completely different in another country or the biggest point - In what context it’s used. Do I have to use an example? Balls. Perfectly normal everyday, family rated word used all of the time. But used in a certain context, has a completely different meaning.

I don’t endorse swearing or insulting anyone, but for educational purposes, here are a few resources I’ve found if you’re looking to learn what the guy yelling at you was saying!

Since a lot of swear words are also considered slang, there are a few items on the list that include non-vulgar slang too.

My favorite:
Learning Spanish Like Crazy
One of the bonus lessons had to do with non-vulgar insults. Things like - You’re a pig, you’re fat, stupid, shut-up, things like that. Another bonus has the vulgar insults, the really, really vulgar insults. In fact, the narrator starts out - “Learning Spanish Like Fucking Crazy”. LSLC is the course I bought and I’m not going to publish everything, but here’s a very small sample from each spliced together: Click on the icon, listen only, no downloads.
ListenOnly Insultos

Audio Books Learn Swear Words In Spanish
This has a few minutes of audio with some really good examples.

Spanish Slang Dictionary
A slang dictionary with plenty of the bad words. It only goes Spanish to English. It gives the slang meaning next to the literal meaning. Very complete.

Learn Spanish (Español) Swear Words, Curse Words, Insults and Bad Language
For such a long title, it’s a really short list. But there are some good ones on it.

Spanish Slang, Expressions, and Idioms
Excellent list. Even lists the slang term for a particular country. Either Puerto Rico, Mexico, Spain, etc…

Urban Dictionary
A great list of all things slang English and Spanish. Look up any Spanish slang or profanity for the English definition. Or go straight to the -
Mexican Slang Page
It’s a fairly comprehensive list with an example used in a sentence. The bad part of Urban Dictionary is that anyone can update it. There are thumbs up or thumbs down percentages of how many people agree or disagree with that definition so you can decide for yourself. But at least it’s a place to start or get a second opinion.

Insults.net
A couple of pages of good stuff with origins or where they’re used most.

Wikipedia Spanish profanity
Of course! Wikipedia has everything! The first line of the page says, “accuracy of this article is disputed” and how it doesn’t cite any references or sources. But if you can get past that disclaimer, it’s a very long and very detailed article covering some of the major profanities along with countries used in, popular usage and even origins of the sayings in some cases. Only Wikipedia can turn something like slang and profanity into something so boring. But if’ you’ve got an hour to sit down and read it, it’s pretty interesting.

BBC Languages Sexual Swear Words
Leave it to the British to make swearing sound proper. From the BBC Language site for Spanish. Download the MP3 and PDF or listen online with their flash player. I’m sure this is Spain Spanish as opposed to the rest of the list which is mostly Latin American or Mexican Spanish.

BBC Languages Cool Spanish
Spanish Slang with MP3, PDF or listen online. Broken down into different categories.

The Alternative Spanish Dictionary
Slang and Swearing. Optionally download the PDF. A very long list.

Spanish Slang from Wikibooks
Very detailed list separated by country with the Spanish, the English translation and the literal translation. Mostly non-swearing slang, but still a good list.

Mexican Slang 101
This is actually a video ad for a book. There are a couple of samples from the book which are interesting. This page MEXICAN SLANG 101 has a few more examples from the book. I actually bought the book, it’s got everything you need to know. It’s pocket sized, packed with slang, clean slang, dirty slang, insulting slang, sexual slang. Everything from mamacita to mámame.

Mexican Restaurant Slang
This video is from a young man that explains, took Spanish in high school, but wanted to learn more so, he took a job in a Mexican restaurant. This part of his video blog explains some of the slang he learned while working around Mexicans. His first slang term, ¿Qué onda guey? He puts up on the screen as ¿Que Honda güey? I’m sure he learned by listening and not reading, so I’m not going to fault him on that, just be aware of things like that. Plus, I’m not sure if it’s guey or güey, I’ve seen both.


I never knew there were so many books that would teach you how to talk dirty in Spanish. Here are a few more:

Go here more Spanish Slang and Swearing Books.