One of the Spanish words I learnt today was ¡guácala! [ˈɡwa.ka.la], which means yuck! ew! gross! it’s disgusting! and similar exclamations of disgust. It’s used in El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and the Dominican Republic to indicate dislike, disgust, or rejection [source].
It comes from guacal (wooden crate, tub, calabash tree), from the Classical Nahuatl huacalli [kwaˈkalːi] (wooden crate) [source]. Why a word for a wooden crate became an exclamation of disgust is not clear.
Here are some examples of how it’s used (from ReversoContext and Duolingo):
- ¡Guácala! ¡Sabe horrible! = Yuck! It tastes horrible!
- ¡Guácala, casi lo pisé! = Ew, I almost stepped in it.
- ¡No, guácala! = No, it’s disgusting!
- ¡Guácala, mal postre = Euhhh… bad pie
Related words include:
- guácara = vomit
- guacarear = to vomit
Both of which are used in Mexico.
Other Spanish words with a similar meaning include:
- ¡Qué asco! = Yuck! How revolting! How disgusting!
- ¡Puaj! = Ew! Yeech! Blecchh! Yuk! Phooey! Gross!
- ¡Uf! = Phew! Ugh!
- ¡Puf! = Yuck!
Are there other words in Spanish with a similar meaning?
What about equivalent words in other languages?
One of my favourite expressions in Welsh is ych a fi! [əx ə viː], which means yuck! [source].
The word ych, pronounced [ɨːχ/iːχ], also means ox.
Just saw a tik tok of someone telling a story about how his grandma explained to him that they would use a communal wooden crate to poop in and then they would throw out on the mountain side when it was full. That’s why it associated with grossness. Just thought you would like that know that. I found it interesting.