Spanish Word of the Day: oficio

Yesterday I wrote about the word curro. Today’s word is a follow-up: oficio. It’s also a job, but a bit different than a regular job.

In most Spanish – English dictionaries you’ll find “job” or “trade” if you look for oficio. Although that’s certainly what it means, monolingual dictionaries often have better definitions. One definition that has be given to it is the following: Trabajo físico o manual para el que no se requieren estudios teóricos. That means that it can also be “labour” or a job you didn’t need to go to school for.

However, if you like to be rude and to swear, you can also use it in the following sense: ser del oficio - “to be a hooker”. Speaks for itself I guess.

Sentences

Un vago sin oficio ni beneficio.
A good-for-nothing layabout.