This article is part of the series Top 5 Spanish Slang Words Searched on Google where we feature a full list examples for:
1. Spanish slang for friend
2. Spanish slang for weed
3. Spanish slang for white person
4. Spanish slang for cool
5. Spanish slang for girl
Spanish slang for weed is the second suggestion that Google gives you when you type in the phrase “Spanish slang for” in the search box. In this particular case weed can have an innocent Spanish translation or be the slang for marijuana. In this article I am going to give you the list of words for both meanings.
Spanish Slang for Weed (plant or grass)
The generic Spanish translation for weed is hierba or the alternate spelling yerba. On the other hand, when the weed grows wild or is messing up you garden you might hear the words: mala hierba, maleza or pasto. With these five words you can be understood in Latin America, but I have identified two additional regional terms that you should know:
1. zacate or sacate: Mexico and Central America
2. yuyo: this word comes from the Quechua language and is a synonym for mala hierba. You will hear this word in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay according to the Royal Spanish Academy dictionary.
Spanish Slang for Weed (marijuana)
Weed is also the slang for marijuana or marihuana in Spanish and the Diccionario de Americanismos list a total of 80 Spanish slang words for it. If you are already overwhelmed with the huge amount of terms, don’t worry, you pretty much can get along with hierba, marimba or mota. But once again, I consulted my Spanish slang library and here is the condensed list:
1. bareta: Colombia
2. cachimba: Colombia and Puerto Rico
3. chala: Argentina
4. cogollo: Spain and Chile
5. crippy: Puerto Rico
6. faso: Argentina
7. macoña: Chile, El Salvador, Uruguay and Peru
8. mafafa: El Salvador, Venezuela and Mexico
9. mafú: Colombia and Puerto Rico
10. maracachafa or maracachifa: Colombia (regional)
11. marimba: Colombia
12. marimba: Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia and Chile
13. moña: Honduras and El Salvador
14. moño: Colombia
15. monte: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Costa Rica
16. mota: Colombia (regional), Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Chile and El Salvador
17. orégano: México
18. pasto: Puerto Rico
19. yerba: Colombia
20. yesca: Colombia, Guatemala and El Salvador
Spanish slang for weed using proper names
21. maría: Venezuela, Mexico and Spain
22. mariela: Colombia
23. juana: Mexico and El Salvador. Also Doña Juanita
24. juanita: Mexico and Honduras
25. mary jane: Mexico. Also alternate spellings such as marijane in Venezuela or mariyéin in El Salvador
26. maría juana or mariajuana: Peru and Colombia
Spanish slang for marijuana cigarette (joint)
1. bacha: Mexico and Uruguay
2. bareta, bareto or vareto: Colombia and Ecuador
3. bazuco or bazuca: Venezuela and Colombia
4. cachafín: Colombia
5. cacho: Venezuela and Colombia
6. coso: Colombia
7. gallo: Puerto Rico
8. huiro: Peru
9. mafú: Puerto Rico
10. moto: Puerto Rico
11. pepa: Chile
12. pitillo: Nicaragua, Peru, Cuba and Puerto Rico
13. pito: Guatemala, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Chile and Puerto Rico
14. porro: Argentina, Venezuela, Mexico, Spain and Colombia
15. puro: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Costa Rica
16. troncho: Peru
Quality of the weed
High quality marijuana: punto rojo, colombiana (El Salvador), moño (Venezuela)
Low quality marijuana: pasto (Honduras, Colombia and parts of Bolivia), ripio, zacate, charbasca (Honduras, Costa Rica)
Sources
To complete this list, in addition to the Speaking Latino books, I used the Diccionario de Americanismos, the NTC’s Dictionary of Latin American Spanish and the Multicultural Spanish Dictionary.
Check out these other Spanish Slang Word articles.
Featured photo credit: Matthew Kenwrick via photopin cc
