Spanish Word of the Day: torpe

Today an adjective that you’ve probably not heard/read or lot. It’s possible that you never even heard of it! Today’s word is torpe.

Torpe can have several meanings, like ‘clumsy’, ‘awkward’, ’slow’ or ‘not clever’. Nothing wrong with that you’d say. However, sometimes it can be an insult if you call someone torpe. When? That depends on the context it’s used in. It’s possible you don’t care when someone calls you clumsy when you’re actually are. But you could regard it as an insult when you don’t see yourself that way. Same counts for not being clever or weird. This philosophy goes up in English, but also in Spanish.

Remember; torpe is not a colloquial word. It’s a word you can use in the presence of anyone, although many never ever use it.

Sentences

Camina con paso torpe debido al reúma.
He walks slowly because of his reumatism.

Reconoce que siempre has sido algo torpe para las manualidades.
He admits that they’ve always been a bit clumsy with manuals.

Soy un poco torpe para la física.
I’m not very good at physics.

Mi abuelo ya está muy torpe.
My grandfather is very slow.

No sabe ni hacer un paquete, es muy torpe.
She doesn’t even know how to make a package, she’s not very clever.

Tagged as: non-colloquial speech, spanish, Spanish Word of the Day