Sentido is a word that has multiple meanings. It is the participle for sentir, to feel. It can be used in just about any way we use feel in English. It can mean a physical touch type feel, or a feeling you get when you know something is right or wrong. Such as a perception. […]

Víspera is the eve of something, such as Christmas eve or Thanksgiving eve. Víspera would be the afternoon or evening before an event. Christmas eve and New Year’s eve have their own special names; nochebuena and nochevieja respectively.

Niño, hombre, varón are all types of men. Niño is boy. Hombre is man. Varón, you may be less familiar with, in general it means male. But it can also be used to mean a man of authority or respect.

Leña is firewood. It would be used for wood that you would use for a fireplace or for cooking. Just like we would use the word firewood. It can be large or small wood, but typically smaller wood that would be used for cooking. Interesting leño is log or block of wood.

Tonight while walking through a shopping plaza I saw the word ternura. Based on the way it was used, I gathered it meant something like loving or affectionate, which is the word tierno. Ternura turns out to be tenderness. They are indeed related. Tierno is the adjective form of the noun ternura.

Borrador is closely related to bosquejo and croquis that I have mentioned before. It is a rough draft or rough sketch. When a man used the word this last week he was referring to a paper that he had just scribbled some thoughts on. He was going to type it up into something more readable […]

Afán has been an interesting word to pin down. It means toil, effort, desire or labor. For the most part I have seen afán used positively. Though you are talking about toil or work it is in an area that you truly enjoy. For example, one may work for a non-profit organization and not make […]