If you want to express angry in Spanish, enter that term in the search box of this page, and you’ll find 43 separate Real World Spanish terms, each of which conveys the idea of anger, becoming angry, or are colorful modismos (sayings) expressing sentiments of anger. A few of them are raunchily funny, for example cara de culo is an angry expression used in Argentina that literally means “ass-faced.”
The all-purpose, plain-vanilla Spanish words for the adjective “angry,” depending on degree are enojado or furioso, which would be understood anywhere in Spain or Latin America. Their verb forms include enojarse, enfadarse and rabiarse (to get angry).
The authors of The Red-Hot Book of Spanish Slang list a number of other colorful sayings alluding to the notion of “being angry” that are worth knowing, and will spice up your Latino Spanish; to wit:
A List of Spanish Slang Expressions for ANGRY: 12 Ways to Sound Like a Local
1. agarrarse una chinche: This one is from Uruguay and Argentina. Literally translated “to grab oneself a bedbug,” it means to get very angry, or “blow a gasket.”
2. el/la chinchudo(-a): Literally “a big ugly bedbug,” this is a hot-tempered person who gets angry easily.
3. estar que ladra: Used in Mexico with the literal meaning “to be barking,” it means to be angry enough to bite someone’s head off.
4. retorcer el hígado: Again, from Mexico, this expression translates literally as “to twist one’s liver.” It means “to get angry.” There is a Costa Rican variation of this one that goes tener un ataque de higado, literally meaning “to have a liver attack.”
5. subirsele la mostaza: Literally “to have the mustard rise up.” In Perú, this expression means “to get angry.”
6. tener una cara de teléfono ocupado: Translated to English “to have a face like a busy telephone.” Puerto Ricans use this unusual simile to describe someone who is either angry or annoyed.
7. la trompa (del pato): Look for this one in Mexico, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Colombia. La trompa is the trunk of an elephant. It is slang for mouth or “kisser” and is often used when referring to an angry person. Example: Sylvia es muy sangrona; todo el tiempo con su trompa de pato. (Sylvia is very unpleasant; always with her puckered [literally duck] mouth.)
8. arrancado(-a): In Costa Rica this is an adjective that means “angry”; however in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico and Colombia it is slang for being “broke,” as in out of money.
9. llevarse el demonio: Meaning “to be taken by the devil or demon, this is an expression used in Mexico and Spain meaning “to be angry or very irritated.”
10. armar un Cristo: Literally “to make a Christ,” in Spain this means “to make a scene, create a big mess or problem,” usually as the result of being angry about something.
11. arrecharse: The Latin American (Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador) meaning of this verb is “to get horns like an animal” in the sense of getting fiercely angry, to “lose it.” Careful with this one, though, it has sexual connotations of “getting horny” or being in heat like an animal.
12. ponerse como una fiera: Spanish speakers in Spain, Chile, Uruguay and El Salvador use this expression to describe someone getting completely out of control, literally “to become like a wild animal.”
Check out these other Spanish Slang Expressions articles.
