Same thing, eight ways to say it
How to say “a job” in Spanish — country by country
The dictionary word is trabajo — The DLE headword (empleo is the formal twin). Every slang cell is what the same country says for «mi trabajo / me voy al trabajo» among friends; in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico the standard word is itself the everyday word, with chamba as a dictionary-registered but native-unverified alternative. 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 | laburo | Also: trabajo; verb laburar Lunfardo, from Italian lavoro; DAMER pop. Rioplatense in practice — a Mexican has never heard it. |
| Chile Santiago | pega | Also: trabajo; laburo (DAMER-marked Ch but far more Rioplatense) DAMER pop + cult → espon — used across registers in speech; also the workplace (ir a la pega). |
| Colombia Medellín | camello | Also: trabajo; chamba (DAMER Co); verb camellar Connotes hard or heavy work (DAMER Co «Tarea pesada y molesta»). Nationwide per DAMER; Medellín native confirms. |
| Dominican Republic Santo Domingo | trabajo | Also: chamba = unstable job (DAMER RD) No Dominican slang cell was sourced; DAMER's only RD job-slang is chamba «Empleo inestable» (with chambazo, chambear). pega in RD is NOT a job — it is a parasite / a sponger. |
| Spain Madrid | curro | Also: trabajo; curre, currelo (DLE synonyms); verb currar DLE coloq.; from caló. «Entro en el curro a las ocho.» Colloquial, never formal. |
| Mexico Mexico City | chamba | Also: trabajo; jale (local, per a Torreón poster); camello («muuuuy coloquial» per a Mexican poster) DEM Popular; DAMER pop + cult → espon. Verb chambear. The Mexican equivalent a Torreón native gives for Spain's curro. |
| Peru Lima | chamba | Also: trabajo; chamba es chamba (DiPerú fixed phrase); verb chambear DiPerú coloq. with three senses; DAMER Pe pop + cult → espon. |
| Puerto Rico San Juan | trabajo | Also: chamba (Tesoro PR, DAMER) Tesoro's trabajo entry carries only marked senses (hechizo, robo, empleo de poca monta), i.e. the plain job sense is the unmarked standard. chamba is registered for PR by Tesoro and DAMER but no PR native testimony was found, and Tesoro's «Empleo por poco tiempo» suggests it may skew to gig. |
Grey = the pan-Hispanic dictionary word is what people really say there. Blank = we couldn't source it yet.
Watch out
- curro (the Spain word) = a scam, or a cushy racket, in Argentina. DLE curro 2 «m. vulg. Arg. estafa»; DAMER curro «I. 1. m. Ar, Ur. Trabajo o negocio circunstancial que reporta ganancias en poco tiempo … II. 1. m. Ar. Estafa.» cacarulo (Buenos Aires): «por acá, al sur, es estafar, sacar dinero con algún engaño»; xeneize: tell an Argentine that Spanish civil servants curran mucho and «va a quedarse con un concepto muy bajo». [1][2]
- curro = a pig in Central America (DAMER curro IV.1 «m. Gu, Ho:O, ES, Ni. Cerdo»), and in Spain currar can also mean to hit (Antpax, Madrid). Venezuela does not use curro at all (ROSANGELUS: «Por acá en Venezuela no se usa»). [1][2]
- camello (the Colombia word) = a dumb, rude person in Argentina and Uruguay: DAMER camello III.1 «sust/adj. Ar, Ur. Persona poco inteligente y de comportamiento rudo y torpe. pop ^ desp.» — and in Spain a camello is a drug pusher. [1]
- pega (the Chile word) means something else almost everywhere: a children's game in western Colombia and Peru (DAMER III.1), a prank in central Colombia (V.1), a parasite / sponger in the DR (VII), and even in Chile a party (VIII.1 «Ch. Juerga, farra. pop.»). [1]
- chamba side-senses: cash in Nicaragua (DAMER V.1), a fluke in Puerto Rico (VII.1 «Acierto casual»; Tesoro de chamba / de pura chamba = by luck) and a girl in PR youth slang (VIII.1 «f. PR. juv. Muchacha»). In Mexico, the DR and Colombia DAMER adds «Empleo inestable» beside the plain-job sense. [1][2]
- laburo is Rioplatense-only in practice even though DAMER also tags Ec, Bo, Ch, Py: a Mexican poster had never heard it, and Chile's own everyday word is pega. camello is also Mexican (DAMER Mx; ILT «muuuuy coloquial»), but chamba is the Mexican card word. [1][2]
- Register: laburo, pega, chamba and curro are informal but neutral — fine in front of family or colleagues (DAMER pop + cult → espon); camello carries a grind / hard-slog connotation (DAMER Co «Tarea pesada y molesta»); none is offensive.
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 — laburo
- DAMER:
laburo. I. 1. m. Ec, Bo, Ch, Py, Ar, Ur. Trabajo, empleo. pop. 2. Bo, Py, Ar, Ur. Lugar donde se trabaja. pop.
↗ - WordReference · pachi06 (Córdoba, Argentina):
laburo… es lunfardo en castellano, se usa en Argentina. Por ejemplo, me voy al laburo (=trabajo)
↗ - WordReference · lemock (Cancún, Mexico):
estoy casi seguro de que laburo se utiliza unicamente en la zona del Rio de la Plata. En México nunca la he escuchado
↗ - Chile — pega
- DAMER:
pega. … II. 1. f. Cu, Ec, Bo, Ch. Actividad que realiza habitualmente una persona para ganarse la vida. pop + cult → espon. 2. Cu, Bo, Ch. Empleo, lugar de trabajo.
↗ - WordReference · Adolfo Afogutu (Uruguay; a Chilean poster, Vampiro, agreed):
pega en Chile es el lugar de trabajo
↗ - Colombia — camello
- DAMER:
camello. I. 1. m. Mx, ES, Cu, Co, Ec. Empleo, trabajo, oficio. pop + cult → espon. … II. 1. m. Co. Tarea pesada y molesta.
↗ - WordReference · emm1366 (Medellín, Colombia — explaining «En pleno camello le dieron chumbimba»):
Se refiere a que acribillaron a una persona durante la jornada de trabajo.
↗ - WordReference · simcog87 (Spanish-Colombia):
'Camello' en Colombia significa 'trabajo' (por lo general pesado) o tambien 'cosa fastidiosa o inoportuna' dependiendo del contexto. 'Camellar' significa 'trabajar'.
↗ - Dominican Republic — trabajo
- DAMER:
chamba. … 2. Mx, RD, Co. Empleo inestable. pop + cult → espon. … 4. RD. Empleo inestable. pop + cult → espon. ◆ chambazo.
↗ - DAMER:
pega. … VII. 1. adj/sust. RD. … parásito. 2. RD. metáf. Referido a persona, inútil, que no quiere trabajar o que vive a costa ajena.
↗ - Spain — curro
- DLE:
curro. (De currar.) 1. m. coloq. trabajo (‖ acción de trabajar). Sin.: trabajo, labor, curre, currelo. 2. m. vulg. Arg. estafa (‖ acción de estafar).
↗ - WordReference · Cicerón (Logroño, España):
Sí, en España se usa mucho. Es una palabra de origen caló
↗ - WordReference · Namarne (Catalonia, Spain):
el curro es el trabajo: Entro en el curro a las ocho
↗ - WordReference · lamartus (Madrid):
lo usamos en cualquier situación… de manera coloquial y no en lenguaje formal
↗ - Mexico — chamba
- DEM (COLMEX):
chamba s f (Popular) Trabajo u ocupación: tener chamba, pedir chamba, dar chamba, mucha chamba, andar sin chamba, 'Está sin chamba y no tiene para pagar la renta'
↗ - DAMER:
chamba. (Del port. chamba). I. 1. f. Mx, Gu, Ho, ES, Ni, Pa, Cu, PR, Co, Pe; CR, Ve, Ec, Bo, espon. Actividad que realiza habitualmente una persona para ganarse la vida. pop + cult → espon.
↗ - WordReference · ToñoTorreón (Español de México, Torreón):
Acá la palabra equivalente sería 'chamba'. Otra que se me ocurre, pero de uso local, es 'jale'.
↗ - WordReference · ILT (México):
en México camello también es una forma (muuuuy coloquial) de decir trabajo. Ponerle al camello es una expresión relativamente común
↗ - Peru — chamba
- DiPerú:
chamba. f. «coloq.». Empleo, trabajo fijo o eventual de cierta duración, con el que asegurar la subsistencia. … 2. Lugar de trabajo. … 3. adj. Muy trabajador. … chamba es chamba. loc. fij.
↗ - DAMER:
chamba. … I. 1. f. Mx, Gu, Ho, ES, Ni, Pa, Cu, PR, Co, Pe; CR, Ve, Ec, Bo, espon. Actividad que realiza habitualmente una persona para ganarse la vida. pop + cult → espon.
↗ - Puerto Rico — trabajo
- Tesoro PR:
Empleo por poco tiempo. … Trabajo. … Actividad que realiza habitualmente una persona para ganarse la vida.
↗ - Tesoro PR (the only job-adjacent sense in the trabajo entry; the rest are hechizo / robo):
Ocupación momentánea. Chivo. Empleo de poca monta.
↗ - DAMER:
chamba. … I. 1. f. Mx, Gu, Ho, ES, Ni, Pa, Cu, PR, Co, Pe… Actividad que realiza habitualmente una persona para ganarse la vida.
↗
Where we're less sure
- AR (laburo): high — DAMER Ar + Córdoba native + a Mexican confirming it as Rioplatense.
- CL (pega): high on lexicography (DAMER Ch, two senses), medium on native testimony — the only archived thread has a Uruguayan explain it and a Chilean merely agree; the Chilean threads dejar-la-pega.1921128 and pega.1855518 have no Wayback snapshot. Kind chosen as local-standard on DAMER's pop + cult → espon (the research file offered slang / local-standard).
- CO (camello): high — DAMER Co (two senses) + a Medellín native + a Colombian poster; camellar confirmed by both. Bogotá not separately checked; DAMER marks it nationwide.
- DO (trabajo): WEAK as a slang cell. The standard word cannot be wrong, but no Dominican source was reached at all (DED is an ebook; Reddit blocked; no RD poster in the job threads). DAMER's only RD job-slang is chamba «Empleo inestable». Ask a Dominican whether chamba / chambear is the casual Santo Domingo word; if yes the grey cell should probably become chamba.
- ES (curro): high — DLE coloq. + five Spain natives (Logroño, Catalonia, Madrid ×2, unspecified).
- MX (chamba): high — DEM Popular + DAMER Mx + Torreón native; the also-words jale and camello are single-source. Kind chosen as local-standard (research file: slang / local-standard).
- PE (chamba): high — DiPerú coloq. (three senses + fixed phrase) + DAMER Pe. Kind local-standard, same reasoning.
- PR (trabajo): the standard word is not contradicted, but the local cell is arguably chamba — Tesoro (three lexicographers) and DAMER I.1 both register chamba = job for PR, and Tesoro's trabajo entry has only marked senses. No PR native forum testimony (chamba-trabajo.476242, chamba.2961103 not archived). Kept as grey standard with chamba as also, pending a native check that it is current in San Juan.
- Not reached: Reddit; DED; several WR threads without Wayback snapshots; dle.rae.es direct (curro fetched via Wayback).