A dangerous street criminal who robs, threatens, and causes trouble in the neighborhood in Venezuela. They're the ones you avoid after dark and the reason you don't flash your phone in certain areas.

In Venezuela, a scam, theft, or con where someone takes your money or belongings. A tumbe is the fraudulent move where a clever person takes advantage of a trusting one.

To get on or board a form of public transport like a bus, subway, or pesero (minibus). Boarding public transport during rush hour in Mexico City requires strategy, elbows, and sometimes a bit of luck to find a spot. It's a contact sport that locals have perfected over years of practice.

A minor seismic event, less intense than an earthquake, that slight shake that makes you pause and wonder if it was real. In seismic countries, you learn to tell tremors from the real thing.

To lose emotional control in an explosive and impulsive way, collapsing and reacting way out of proportion due to stress or rage. Making a drastic decision in the middle of a total meltdown.

A light, watery black coffee, lightly brewed in the traditional Venezuelan style, enjoyed at any hour of the day. Guayoyo is milder than strong espresso and functions as a social ritual in Venezuela.

An automated account on social media that isn't a real person but a program that posts or comments automatically. Also used as an insult for someone who plays video games so badly they seem programmed.

To send messages on WhatsApp, the verb that defines all modern communication in the Spanish-speaking world. Nobody calls anymore, everything gets wasapeado, from plans to breakups to love confessions.

Change, coins, or small bills in Mexico and other Latin American countries. It's the small money you need for buses, tips, and street vendors who never have change for large bills.

Venezuelan word for heavy intoxication or a serious state of drunkenness. To agarrar un jumo is to drink until you're well past tipsy, to the point of losing track of your own name.

In a little bit, soon, any minute now, but with zero guarantee of when exactly. 'En un ratito' can mean 5 minutes, 3 hours, or never, depending on the country, the person, and how lazy they're feeling.

A little extra, a freebie thrown in by the seller as a gesture of goodwill. The ñapa is a beloved tradition in Colombian and Venezuelan markets, a small bonus that makes you feel valued as a customer.

In Venezuela, a cunning person who takes advantage of others to get ahead without caring who they step on. A vivo always looks for their own benefit, even at someone else's expense.

A woman who embraces and promotes a traditional domestic role on social media: devoted homemaker, focused on home and husband, presenting it as the ideal lifestyle. A heavily debated trend across internet culture.

Negative energy transmitted by a person, place, or situation, that uncomfortable feeling that something just isn't right. When you detect mala vibra, your instinct tells you to get away as fast as possible.

To be completely done for, ruined, or beyond saving in a situation. Used across Spanish-speaking internet when someone has screwed up so badly or things have gone so wrong there is no coming back.

To not have a single cent in your pocket, completely tapped out and without resources. When you're seco, your bank account is crying and you can't even afford bus fare.

Sounds like the English words "pick me girl." A girl who seeks male approval by putting down other women and bragging about being "not like other girls." A widely mocked stereotype on social media.

In Venezuela, to get stuck, freeze up, or be unable to move forward with something. Also used when you are left hanging, waiting for a reply or a plan that never comes.

A slap across the face with an open hand. A cachetada hurts less than a closed fist but carries more humiliation, it's theatrical, personal, and impossible to forget regardless of which side of it you're on.

In Caribbean and tropical music, "sabor" isn't just taste: it's the unique way a musician or dancer interprets a rhythm with soul, personal timing, and identity. An orchestra "tiene sabor" when their playing has personal swing, and a dancer "tiene sabor" when their steps flow naturally and flavorfully. The word shows up in salsa, merengue, bachata, and guaracha, and it's the highest compliment in any of those genres.

A Twitch emote and expression representing anxiety, nervousness, or dread in a high-pressure moment. Used across Spanish-speaking streaming communities when something feels dangerously tense.

Furious, with a rage that can't be hidden in Venezuela. Being "encojonado" means you're way past annoyed, right at the edge of exploding.

From "delusional": someone who has completely convinced themselves of a romantic scenario that exists only in their imagination, usually involving a person who barely knows they are alive. Used with humor across the Spanish-speaking world and sometimes worn as a badge of honor.

Short for "shaking my head," used to express disappointment, disbelief, or second-hand embarrassment. The digital equivalent of silently shaking your head at something.

All your belongings, personal stuff, everything you own packed up and ready to move. In Central America macundales is your entire portable life in bags and boxes.

A person who abuses their power or position to mistreat, humiliate, and walk all over others. The one who thinks that having authority means they can treat anyone however they please without consequences.

A Venezuelan exclamation of maximum intensity expressing extreme surprise, deep anger, or total frustration. It's the final level of Caribbean expressiveness, the phrase that comes out when there are no more words left.

Absolutely amazing, incredibly cool, the superlative of chévere cranked up to maximum. In Venezuela and the Caribbean, cheverísimo is used when chévere alone isn't enough to express how good something really is.

In Venezuela, a greedy person who overeats or hoards more food than their share. A "lambucio" can't control themselves around food and has no sense of limit.