20 Salvadoran Spanish Slang Words and Expressions You Will Hear Daily
Salvadorans call themselves guanacos and their Spanish is fast, direct and full of words you will not find in a course. Here are 20 locals use every day.
Salvadorans call themselves guanacos, and Salvadoran Spanish slang is quick, direct and unmistakably its own thing. It shares a few words with Guatemala and Honduras, but the way Salvadorans string them together, always with vos, always with a shortcut, is what makes it recognisable within three sentences.
Below are 20 Salvadoran Spanish slang words and expressions you will hear daily in San Salvador, at a pupusería, or in any conversation between cheros. Each entry has the meaning, an example, and the English translation.
How Salvadorans Talk About Each Other
1. Guanaco / guanaca
A Salvadoran. Used with pride among Salvadorans themselves, and it beats salvadoreño in casual speech.
Somos guanacos, aquí se come pupusa los domingos. (We're Salvadoran, here we eat pupusas on Sundays.)
2. Chero / chera
Friend, buddy. This is the single most Salvadoran word on the list, and you will hear it in every other sentence.
Voy a salir con mis cheros el viernes. (I'm going out with my friends on Friday.)
3. Maje
Dude, guy. Between friends it is neutral and constant. Said with the wrong tone it means fool, so the tone carries the meaning.
Ese maje siempre llega tarde. (That guy is always late.)
4. Bicho / bicha
A kid or a teenager. Elsewhere in Latin America bicho means something very different, so this one is worth filing under "El Salvador only".
Los bichos están jugando en el patio. (The kids are playing in the yard.)
5. Cipote / cipota
Another word for a child, slightly more affectionate and used by older speakers.
Cuando era cipote vivía en Santa Ana. (When I was a kid I lived in Santa Ana.)
6. Chele / chela
Light skinned or fair haired. Descriptive, extremely common, and often used as a nickname.
La chele que trabaja en la farmacia me ayudó. (The fair haired woman who works at the pharmacy helped me.)
7. Baboso / babosa
A fool, someone doing something silly. Softer than it looks on paper, and used with affection among friends.
No seás baboso, eso no se hace así. (Don't be silly, that's not how you do it.)
Everyday Salvadoran Expressions
8. Chivo
Cool, great, excellent. The default word of approval in El Salvador.
Está bien chivo tu celular nuevo. (Your new phone is really cool.)
9. Púchica
Surprise, frustration or sympathy, all in one word, and always safe to say out loud.
Púchica, se fue la luz otra vez. (Oh man, the power went out again.)
10. Cabal
Exactly, right, spot on. Salvadorans use it as agreement the way other Spanish speakers use exacto.
Cabal, eso mismo estaba pensando. (Exactly, that's just what I was thinking.)
11. Trucha
Sharp, alert, on the ball. Ponerse trucha is to pay attention.
Ponete trucha con la mochila en el bus. (Keep an eye on your backpack on the bus.)
12. Pisto
Money. Shared with Guatemala and just as common here.
Ando sin pisto hasta el día de pago. (I'm broke until payday.)
13. Chambre
Gossip. Echar chambre is to gossip, and chambroso is the person who does it.
No me gusta el chambre de la oficina. (I don't like the office gossip.)
Reading these words inside a story is what turns them from a list into something you can actually use. Short Stories in Salvadoran Spanish drops them into real conversations, at the speed and register Salvadorans use them.
Salvadoran Slang for Things and Situations
14. Volado
A thing, a matter, a favour, an errand. Beautifully vague and endlessly useful.
Tengo un volado que hacer antes de las cinco. (I have something to take care of before five.)
15. Chunche
An object whose name you cannot remember, or cannot be bothered to say.
Pasame ese chunche que está en la mesa. (Pass me that thing on the table.)
16. Bayunco
Silly, clownish, someone who plays the fool to make people laugh.
Tu primo es bien bayunco en las fiestas. (Your cousin is a real clown at parties.)
17. Bolo
Drunk. Same meaning across much of Central America.
No manejés, andás bolo. (Don't drive, you're drunk.)
18. Guaro
Hard liquor, usually cane spirit. The word covers the drink and the whole evening built around it.
Compraron guaro para la celebración. (They bought liquor for the celebration.)
19. Vergón
Great, awesome. Strong and informal, so it belongs with friends rather than at work.
Estuvo vergón el concierto. (The concert was awesome.)
20. Qué onda vos
What's up. The standard Salvadoran greeting, and the clearest three word summary of how the country speaks: a question, a vos, and no wasted syllables.
Qué onda vos, cómo te fue en el trabajo? (What's up, how did work go?)
Five More You Will Hear Within a Day
These did not make the main twenty, but they turn up constantly and they are worth recognising.
Chuco. Dirty. It is also the name of a warm, dark corn drink sold at street stalls, so context decides whether someone is insulting your kitchen or offering you breakfast.
A la orden. The standard reply to thank you, and also what a shopkeeper says to invite you in. It replaces de nada almost entirely.
Salú. Cheers, and also what you say when someone sneezes. Short, warm, everywhere.
Andar hule. To be completely broke, with hule meaning rubber, as in worn down to nothing.
Pupusear. To go out for pupusas. The national dish is common enough to have generated its own verb, which tells you most of what you need to know about El Salvador.
How to Use Salvadoran Slang Without Sounding Off
Use vos, not tú. Salvadorans use vos almost universally in informal speech, with its own verb forms: vos sos, vos tenés, vos venís, and the imperative vení, decime, ponete. This is the backbone of sounding Salvadoran.
Expect dropped letters. Para becomes pa, está becomes tá, and final s often softens. Do not try to force it, but do train your ear for it, or you will miss half of what is said.
Mind the regional traps. Bicho means a child here and something coarse in other countries. Slang is only local by definition, and a word that works in San Salvador can land badly in Lima or San Juan.
Watch the tone with maje. The same word is a friendly "dude" and a flat insult depending entirely on how it is said. When in doubt, use chero.
If you are collecting Central American varieties, read this next to 20 Guatemalan Spanish Slang Words and Expressions, and compare them with 20 Ecuadorian Spanish Slang Words and Expressions and 20 Puerto Rican Spanish Slang Words and Expressions to hear how far apart the regions really are.
To go from recognising these words to using them, meet them in context: Short Stories in Salvadoran Spanish, or the wider Short Stories collection if you want the whole region.