Same thing, eight ways to say it
How to say “a hangover” in Spanish — country by country
The dictionary word is resaca — RAE DLE: «malestar que padece al despertar quien ha bebido alcohol en exceso»; the DLE entry lists cruda, goma, guayabo, ratón, chaqui, goya as regional synonyms. Four of the eight columns (AR, DO, ES, PE) really just say resaca — those are grey cells. Here is what you'll actually hear in eight cities, with the source for every cell.
What people actually say
| Where | They say | Also · notes |
|---|---|---|
| Argentina Buenos Aires | resaca | Also: chaqui only in the Northwest, not BA estar en pedo = drunk (not hungover). |
| Chile Santiago | la caña | Also: hachazo (DAMER Ch. «Resaca»); resaca understood andar con la caña (mala) / estar con (la) caña. |
| Colombia Medellín | guayabo | Also: enguayabado/a (adj.); resaca is rare DAMER marks it pop., but it is THE word nationwide; no Bogotá/Medellín split. |
| Dominican Republic Santo Domingo | resaca | Also: jumo / juma = the drunkenness itself, not the hangover; verb resacarse A Dominican lexicographer even claims resaca as a dominicanismo. |
| Spain Madrid | resaca | Also: resacón (big one), resacoso/a (adj.), estar de resaca This IS the pan-Hispanic word. |
| Mexico Mexico City | cruda | Also: estar crudo/a (adj.); cruda moral = guilt hangover DEM marks it Popular; national, no regional split found. |
| Peru Lima | resaca | Also: perseguidora (coloq., sounds dated — DiPerú's own example says it is now used jokingly) DiPerú has no entry for resaca itself (it lists only peruanismos), consistent with resaca being the plain standard word there. |
| Puerto Rico San Juan | hangover | Also: estar engomao/engomado, engomarse; resaca is understood but tesoro.pr records NO hangover sense for it Pronounced/written jangóver; anglicismo crudo, usual. |
Grey = the pan-Hispanic dictionary word is what people really say there. Blank = we couldn't source it yet.
Watch out
- caña is a minefield: hangover only in Chile; a glass of draft beer in Spain; cane liquor in Ni, Cu, Ve, Py, Ar, Ur; any alcoholic drink in Co, Ve; the drunkenness itself in Cu, Ch; a car in Peru («Pe. carro, vehículo automotor»; DiPerú caña «pop. Vehículo automóvil»); a penis in Cuba («Cu. Pene. vulg.»). [1][2][3]
- crudo/a = hungover in Mexico, but in Cu, RD, PR, Pe, Ar DAMER gives crudo,-a = inexperienced/novice; in PR/DO «estoy crudo» will not read as hungover. [1][2]
- ratón = hangover in Venezuela only («Ve. Malestar que padece al despertar quien ha bebido alcohol en exceso»); in Mx, RD it means a thief («Ladrón»); in Argentina ratones are «Fantasías eróticas» — confirmed by the Argentine WR poster: «ratones ... fantasias generalemente de carácter sexual». [1][2]
- guayabo is the guava tree everywhere (DAMER I.1 lists Mx…Ar); in Co, Ve it is also «Tristeza que se siente por la ausencia de alguien»; in PR tesoro.pr gives a person sense (attractive/strong), not hangover. [1][2]
- goma = hangover in Central America (WR #4 El Salvador: «a la resaca del día siguiente se le conoce como 'goma'»; Reddit Costa Rica «tengo goma»), but not in any of the eight columns; in PR goma is a tire. [1][2][3]
- jumo / juma (DO, PR, CO…) is the drunkenness/binge, not the morning after: DAMER juma «Gu, Ho, ES, Ni, CR, Cu, RD, PR, Co. Borrachera»; jumo,-a «CR, RD, Ve, Ec. Borracho.» A Reddit reply flags exactly this confusion («I thought 'darse un jumo' just meant to get drunk»). [1][2]
- hachazo (CL hangover) means a blow with an axe elsewhere, overpricing in PR/Bo, and has a vulgar anatomical sense in Mexico per DAMER. [1]
- engomado is hungover in Mx, Ho, ES, Ni, CR, Pa, PR but «que se viste y acicala con esmero» in Mx/Ec and «aficionado a algo» in western Colombia (Co:O — i.e. the Medellín side). [1]
- chuchaqui (Ecuador) and chaqui (Bolivia, NW Argentina) are Quechua-derived and NOT Lima or Buenos Aires words: DAMER chaqui «Ar:NO; Bo:SO,C». [1][2]
- Register: none of the eight main cells is rude. cruda/guayabo/caña are marked pop. by DAMER (casual, fine with friends, fine on a card). hangover/jangóver in PR is an anglicismo crudo, usual (tesoro.pr).
Hear it in the city
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Start speaking — freeSources
Every cell above is backed by human-authored lexicography or a native speaker who says where they're from — ASALE's Diccionario de americanismos, El Colegio de México's Diccionario del español de México, the Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, the Peruvian Academy's DiPerú, and country-stated posts on language forums. Nothing here comes from a model's recall. Spot a mistake? Tell us — corrections from native speakers go straight in.
- Argentina — resaca
- WordReference · Argentine poster (#17):
En Argentina, agarrarse una borrachera es estar en pedo... La resaca se la llama con ese nombre.
↗ - Clarín:
la vieja y conocida resaca se adueña de nuestro cuerpo
↗ - DAMER:
Ar:NO; Bo:SO,C ... Resaca
↗ - Chile — la caña
- DAMER (caña I.5):
Ch. Resaca, malestar que se padece al día siguiente de haber consumido alcohol de manera excesiva. pop + cult → espon.
↗ - Reddit · u/Spdrr (Chile):
En Chile ... 'Estar con (la) caña' / Hangover
↗ - DAMER:
Ch. Resaca, malestar producido por haber consumido alcohol en exceso la noche anterior
↗ - Etimologías de Chile: ↗
- Colombia — guayabo
- DAMER (guayabo III.1):
Co. Malestar que padece al despertar quien ha bebido alcohol en exceso. pop.
↗ - El Tiempo (citing Diccionario de colombianismos):
guayabo significa lo mismo desde La Guajira hasta el último rincón del Amazonas
↗ - WordReference · Colombian poster (#16):
'resaca' se dice de vez en cuando lo más comun es decir 'guayabo'
↗ - Reddit · u/kiwi_burmangues / u/Not_A_Red_Stapler (Colombia):
Tengo guayabo (colombia); Also Colombia: estoy enguayabado
↗ - Dominican Republic — resaca
- El Nacional (Dr. César Mella, 2008):
Según el profesor Patín Maceo, el término resaca es un dominicanismo que significa malestar que se siente al otro día de una juerga; al otro día después de un jumo…
↗ - DAMER:
jumo,-a: CR, RD, Ve, Ec. Borracho.
↗ - DAMER: ↗
- Spain — resaca
- The Local (Alex Dunham):
tengo resaca (I have a hangover) or estoy de resaca
↗ - Reddit · u/helpman1977 (Spain):
In Spain the most common word for hangover is resaca. If you really feel bad, then the superlative resacón
↗ - Mexico — cruda
- DEM (COLMEX):
cruda s f (Popular) Estado de malestar general que ocurre algunas horas después de haber bebido alcohol... 'Al día siguiente de la fiesta tuvimos una cruda espantosa'
↗ - DAMER:
Mx, Gu, Ho, ES, Ni, Bo; Ec, p.u. Resaca, malestar por haber bebido en exceso. pop.
↗ - Reddit · u/Smgt90 (Mexico):
I've never heard anyone in my life saying it non ironically. Everyone just says cruda.
↗ - WordReference · Mexican poster (#8):
A la resaca le llamamos cruda; ... cruda moral
↗ - Peru — resaca
- DiPerú (s.v. perseguidora):
coloq. Resaca, malestar que tiene una persona horas después de haber bebido en exceso. El chilcano de pisco es buen antídoto contra el veneno de la perseguidora, aunque ya no se usa para curar resacas
↗ - La República (Lima), quoting Suheyn Cipriani:
Estaba con resaca
↗ - DAMER:
Pe, Bo:O,E. Resaca ... pop.
↗ - Puerto Rico — hangover
- Tesoro PR:
Malestar que queda al día siguiente de una borrachera (PÉREZ SALA 1968); Anglicismo crudo, usual (MORALES DE WALTERS 2009)
↗ - DAMER:
EU, PR. Malestar que queda al día siguiente de una borrachera. (jangóver)
↗ - DAMER:
PR. Sentir alguien malestar por haber bebido mucho alcohol
↗ - DAMER:
engomado,-a: Mx, Ho, ES, Ni, CR, Pa, PR. Referido a persona, que experimenta los malestares propios de la resaca.
↗ - Tesoro PR:
only agricultural / sea / beating senses
↗
Where we're less sure
- AR — resaca is backed by one WR native post + Clarín; no slang alternative surfaced for Buenos Aires (chaqui is NW only). A porteño should confirm there is no popular synonym missed (nothing found in DAMER for Ar beyond chaqui Ar:NO).
- CL — caña is solid (DAMER + a Chilean redditor), but ask a santiaguino whether «andar con la caña» vs «estar con la caña mala» vs «hachazo» is the everyday form, and whether resaca is what younger people actually say.
- PE — resaca rests on the Academia Peruana's own wording (definition + example of perseguidora) and a press quote; no Lima native explicitly stating «we say resaca» was found (Reddit/WR/HiNative Peru threads were unreachable). Also check whether perseguidora is still alive or purely jocular.
- PR — hangover/jangóver is what the lexicography says; a sanjuanero should confirm whether they'd say hangover, estoy engomao or resaca in 2026. tesoro.pr's silence on resaca-as-hangover is absence of evidence, not proof.
- DO — only source is a 2008 El Nacional health column (Dominican physician quoting Patín Maceo); no Dominican slang alternative found (searches for a distinct word came back empty; Brave/Yahoo rate-limited). Confirm resaca is really the street word and not just the doctor's word.
- MX — rest-of-Mexico note: no source found showing regional variation; DEM/DAMER treat cruda as national.
- DLE wording for resaca is cited via search-engine snippet only; dle.rae.es 403s.