Spanish Word of the Day: cojonudo

The “normal” way most Spanish speakers say something’s great, is by saying ¡estupendo!, ¡genial! or ¡maravilloso!. Next to that, Spaniards also use ¡de puta madre! if that’s accepted in the group they’re in, or… ¡cojonudo!.

Cojonudo is a slang and often vulgar word, in which you can see the word cojón (you might know it better in the form of cojones): “testicle”. Yup, like many Spanish slang expressions, it is a bit sexist (de puta madre isn’t the friendliest way to refer to your mother, you know).

So, cojonudo roughly means “great” or “amazing”. According to the dictionary it can also mean “dumb”, although it’s mostly used to describe that something’s great. Often, you can put in the same place as you’d place “f*ck(ing)” in English.

Sentences

Es un jamón cojonudo.
That’s a [f*cking] good jamón.

Lo has hecho cojonudo.
You did that [f*cking] great.

Esa casa me pareció cojonuda, pero no podemos comprarla.
That house looked [f*cking] great, but we can’t buy it.