Canoso is grey-haired or white-haired. It is an adjective that describes a person, therefore it can be masculine or femenine; i.e., canoso or canosa.

When something is of low quality or a fake ripoff in Argentina they call it trucho. This can be used for something that is not what it seems; i.e., a pirate taxi company. Apparently this word is used in Uruguay in the same way. Does anyone know of other countries that use trucho like this? [...]

Ambulante is exactly the same in English and Spanish. Ambulante is a word that is used in the medical field in English and it means walking, or able to move around. The story in the newspaper that I got this word from was using it to refer to traveling salesmen.

The local police were handing out road safety tips the other day. I don’t remember all the wording, but it mentioned something about somnolencia. I knew, of course, that insomnia (in English) is the inability to sleep, so I figured that somnolencia was drowsiness, or sleepiness. From my study it seems that somnolencia is the [...]

It seems that the word inalámbrico is popping up everywhere. At all our city parks one can get internet inalámbrico or wireless internet. It is also used to refer to cordless phones. Alambre is wire, therefore inalambre is without wire.

Constipado probably does not mean what you immediately think. It is to have a cold or a stuffy nose. Estreñimiento means to be constipated.

Culto is a word that has a few different meanings. Cultured or educated. This would refer to someone who is learned or knowledgeable about many different subjects. Service. Culto can be a service as in a church service, or it can be someone’s service to a cause. Cult. The obvious use of the word culto [...]

Restante is what is left over when you take away everything else. It can mean extra. In Mexico the word extra is also used to mean restante. Restar is to subtract. What is left over after subtracting is the restante.

With the doctors today we dealt with a lot of numbness in hands and feet. Therefore I learned the word entumecido which is numb. To go numb, or to become numb is entumecer.

I thought clavado had something to do with nails–clavos–which it does. To hammer or drive in a nail is clavar. It can also mean to be stuck to something like having been nailed. But what got me to thinking about clavado is when I saw it used at a swimming pool. The word clavado is [...]