Spanish Word of the Day: papi

If you’d search in the dictionary for papi you’d probably see that it means “dad” or “father”. Yes, it’s your old man, but using it in that context would be a pretty weird. Why? It’s simple: papi is – nowadays at least – more used to say “darling” or “sweetheart”, in most parts of Latin-America at least.

In Spain it’s still used to say “daddy”. And while many people in Latin-America use it as a synonym for cariño or cielo, it’s still a bit sexist. Mami is no difference; it can mean “mommy” (mainly in Spain), but above all “sweetheart” (in a bit sexist way, in Latin-America).