''Güey'' (; also spelled ''guey'', ''wey ''or ''we'') is a word in colloquial
Mexican Spanish
Mexican Spanish () is the variety of dialects and sociolects of the Spanish language spoken in Mexico and its bordering regions. Mexico has the largest number of Spanish speakers, more than double any other country in the world. Spanish is spo ...
that is commonly used to refer to any person without using their name. Though typically (and originally) applied only to males, it can also be used for females (although when using slang, women would more commonly refer to another woman as "chava"
oung womanor "vieja"
ld lady.
It is used roughly the same as "
dude
''Dude'' is Regional vocabularies of American English, American slang for an individual, typically male. From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a male person who dressed in an extremely fashionable manner (a dandy) or a conspicuous ...
" in modern
American English
American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...
.
What is Güey in English? - Güey Spanish
/ref> It is derived from the term buey
Buey Arriba is a mountainous municipality and town in the Granma Province of Cuba. It is located in the northern part of the Sierra Maestra, south of Bayamo, the provincial capital.
Etymology
When Spanish Empire, Spanish colonizers settled in ...
, meaning ox. It was used to insult men as cuckold
A cuckold is the husband of an adulterous wife (or partner for unmarried companions); the wife of an adulterous husband is a cuckquean. In biology, a cuckold is a male who unwittingly invests parental effort in juveniles who are not geneti ...
s,consonant mutation
Consonant mutation is change in a consonant in a word according to its morphological or syntactic environment.
Mutation occurs in languages around the world. A prototypical example of consonant mutation is the initial consonant mutation of al ...
to a , often elided, resulting in the modern pronunciation "wey". The word can be used as an insult, like "fool", although, due to its extremely high frequency of use in a multitude of contexts, it has lost much of its offensive character, becoming a colloquialism
Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation amo ...
.
Use
It is common to use both meanings of the term interchangeably:
# To denote stupidity or ignorance, in expressions like "''¡Qué güey soy, se me olvidó el celular!''" (I'm such an idiot, I forgot my (cell) phone!) Or "''¡No seas güey!" (Don't be an idiot!)
# "''¡No güey! ¡Estoy en el celular!''" (No dude! I'm on the phone!); "''No güey, no pude ir.''" (No dude, I couldn't go.)
# To refer to a person whose name is unknown, like "''¿Que no es tu hermano aquel güey de camisa roja?''" (Isn't the dude with the red shirt your brother?)
In the first case, it is used like the English profanity
Profanity, also known as swearing, cursing, or cussing, is the usage of notionally word taboo, offensive words for a variety of purposes, including to demonstrate disrespect or negativity, to relieve pain, to express a strong emotion (such a ...
, "dumbass". In the last two cases, it is used like the American slang
A slang is a vocabulary (words, phrases, and linguistic usages) of an informal register, common in everyday conversation but avoided in formal writing and speech. It also often refers to the language exclusively used by the members of pa ...
term, "dude
''Dude'' is Regional vocabularies of American English, American slang for an individual, typically male. From the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a male person who dressed in an extremely fashionable manner (a dandy) or a conspicuous ...
".
Although the word is not always offensive nor an insult between friends, its usage is generally considered uneducated. Thus its usage is limited mostly to friends and trusted acquaintances or among young people. It is considered in poor taste for a teenager or a child to refer to an adult as "''güey''," although among adults it is usually used in a common way. The word is used in any social class, being equally accepted and used in all. It is also used in television and radio in popular entertainment, but not in more formal or objective programs, like in the news.
See also
*Spanish profanity
The Spanish language employs a wide range of swear words that vary between Spanish-speaking countries, Spanish speaking nations and in regions and subcultures of each nation. Idiomatic expressions, particularly profanity, are not always direct ...
External links
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guey (Vulgar)
Mexican slang