Same thing, eight ways to say it
How to say “a kid” in Spanish (informal) — country by country
The dictionary word is niño / niña — DEM: «Persona que está en la primera época de su desarrollo… hasta los 14 años»; everywhere it is the neutral word, but the everyday informal word differs by country. 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 | pibe | Also: chico/a (most common neutral); nene/a (small kids); pendejo (rude) Feminine piba. Colloquial, affectionate. |
| Chile Santiago | cabro chico | Also: cabro; cabrito; niño (formal) Colloquial; cabro chico is the unambiguous little-kid form. |
| Colombia Medellín | pelao | Bogotá: chino Also: pelado (full spelling); culicagao (paisa, affectionate-teasing); sardino Colloquial, affectionate. Bogotá says chino/china. |
| Dominican Republic Santo Domingo | carajito | Also: chamaco (DAMER RD); muchacho Feminine carajita. Colloquial; DAMER marks it desp. |
| Spain Madrid | chaval | Also: crío/a, niño/a, chiquillo/a, nene/a, peque Feminine chavala. Colloquial but neutral; skews older-child/teen. |
| Mexico Mexico City | chamaco | Also: chavo/a (any young person incl. kids); escuincle (teasing/annoyed); north: morro/a, huerco, buqui Feminine chamaca. DEM: Popular. |
| Peru Lima | chibolo | Also: niño; chamaco (DAMER Pe) Feminine chibola. Colloquial. |
| Puerto Rico San Juan | nene | Also: chamaquito, muchachito Feminine nena. The general PR word for a child. |
Grey = the pan-Hispanic dictionary word is what people really say there. Blank = we couldn't source it yet.
Watch out
- cabro (CL kid) = «Pe. Hombre homosexual. vulg.» and «ES. Chulo de una prostituta» per DAMER — do not use the Chilean word in Lima. In Chile cabro chico is the unambiguous little-kid form (WR Maihue, scouseland: «cabro, cabrito, cabro chico pero eso ya es más informal»). [1][2]
- pendejo = child or adolescent (Ch, Ar, Ur, Py) but foolish/cowardly person in Mx, Cu, RD, Co, PR etc. per DAMER; in Buenos Aires it is used for kids but is «vulgar y despectivo» (Irama, Argentina) — Martoo: «pendejo… tono ofensivo». Do not put it on the card as a neutral word. [1][2]
- nene in PR is both the general word for child AND «I. 1. m. PR. Pene. prost.» (DAMER; Tesoro nene²: «Pene», Altieri de Barreto 1973). Same word, same island; the child sense is overwhelmingly dominant (Álvarez Nazario). In Argentina nene is also used but «es un localismo» (Chulls, WR boy-chico thread). [1]
- chavo (MX) = «I.1 m. pl. Cu, RD, PR. Dinero, moneda corriente» (DAMER) — in the Caribbean chavos is money, not kids. In Mexico DAMER: «2. Mx, Bo. Muchacho, niño que aún no es adolescente»; DEM chavo: «(Popular) 1 Niño o joven». [1]
- chaval is instantly heard as Spanish-from-Spain: jorgema (Peruvian): «'chaval' es una de esas palabras que identifica a la primera a los españoles»; Peón (AR): «En la Argentina nada de nada»; Vampiro (Chile): «puedo decir con seguridad que no». Mexico has the cognate chavalo («sigue siendo muy común», mirx). [1][2]
- carajito is marked desp. (despective) in DAMER and DED gives sense 2 «Persona inmadura, infantil»; DAMER 2: «RD, Ve. insignificante, inútil, poco madura». Also heard in Venezuela (oa2169) and Puerto Rico (zumac, boy-chico thread). It is built on carajo, so it reads as crude outside the Caribbean. [1][2]
- culicagao (Medellín) = literally «shit-bottomed»; paisas insist it is affectionate («No son vulgares, más bien son cariñosos», BETOREYES; «coloquial mas no vulgar») but beatrizg (Colombia) calls it «entre despectiva y divertida» and a Colombian in the culicagada thread reported it taken as an insult. Keep it as also, not the headline. [1][2]
- pelao/pelado means something else elsewhere: in Colombia it also means «sin dinero» (WR you-perve thread: «persona joven o alguien… sin dinero»); in Spain pelao is a vocative like tío/chaval, not child (Jonno). Also used for kids in Panama (Mirlo, Piotr1988). [1]
- chino = kid in Bogotá/Colombia and Venezuela only (DAMER III.1 «Co, Ve. Persona joven o de corta edad. pop.»); everywhere else it means Chinese. JCA- (Colombia): «nuestros pelado / pelada, sardino / na y, en Bogotá y alrededores chino / china». [1]
- morro = kid is NORTHERN Mexico (DEM: «III s y adj (NO) (Popular) Niño, joven»; DAMER «V (morro, -a) Mx:N. Muchacho») plus Cuernavaca per lepus; tigger_uhuhu (Mexico) called it «qué horror». Not the CDMX headline word.
- escuincle (Nahuatl) is what a Mexican parent says when annoyed: Yuribear (Mex): «Escuincle… cuando uno está enojado con el niño» (boy-chico thread); DEM: «2 adj y s inexperto o inmaduro».
- guagua = baby in CL/PE/Ec/NW Ar («Niño de pecho») but = bus in Cu/RD/PR (DAMER). [1]
- pibe is Buenos Aires: luis masci (Argentina): «'pibe'… no es casi usado en el interior, en el norte se dice 'chango'» (boy-chico thread); DAMER also tags pibe for PR («m. y f. PR, Bo, Ar, Ur; m. PR») — no PR native confirmed it, so leave it as an AR word.
- Spain nene exists too (mallujulia, MadGato) but chiefly for very small kids; regional Spain: chavea (Andalusia), zagal (Murcia), nano (Valencia), guacho (La Mancha). [1]
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 — pibe
- DAMER:
pibe, -a. I. 1. m. y f. PR, Bo, Ar, Ur… Muchacho, joven. pop + cult → espon ^ afec.
↗ - WordReference · Martoo (Español porteño):
acá sólo se oye chico… nenes/as, chiquitos… También se usan pibe/a
↗ - Chile — cabro chico
- DAMER:
cabro, -a. II. 1. m. y f. Ch. Niño, muchacho. pop + cult → espon.
↗ - WordReference · Maihue (Chile):
En Chile decimos: 'cabro', 'cabrito' ó 'cabro chico'
↗ - Colombia — pelao
- DAMER:
pelado. I.3 Co, Ec, Bo:E. Niño o muchacho. pop.
↗ - WordReference · BETOREYES (Colombia, Medellín):
En Antioquia: Pelaos, Mocosos, Culicagados (No son vulgares, más bien son cariñosos) En Bogotá: Chinos.
↗ - Dominican Republic — carajito
- DED:
carajito 1 m. y f. col. Persona que está en la niñez o en la adolescencia.
↗ - DAMER:
I.1 m. y f. Ho, Ni, Pa, RD, Co, Ve, Bo, Ur. Persona que está en la niñez. desp.
↗ - Spain — chaval
- DLE (search snippet):
chaval: m. y f. coloq. Esp. niño o joven
↗ - WordReference · Anon3210 (Spain):
En España usamos la palabra chaval… chico, muchacho, joven
↗ - WordReference · Adelaida Péndelton (Spain):
Se usa tanto chaval como chavala… muy coloquial es bastante neutra
↗ - Mexico — chamaco
- DEM (COLMEX):
chamaco (Popular) 1 s Niño, adolescente o hijo: 'La plaza estaba llena de chamacos'
↗ - DAMER:
I.1 m. y f. Mx, Gu, ES, Cu, RD, PR, Pe… Niño o adolescente.
↗ - WordReference · lepus (México, variedad del centro):
Chamacos y también morros (morritos, morrillos), en Cuernavaca
↗ - Peru — chibolo
- DiPerú:
chibolo, la. m. y f./adj. «coloq.». Persona que está en la niñez o adolescencia.
↗ - DAMER:
I.1 m. y f. Ec, Pe. Niño de corta edad. 2. Pe. Muchacho, joven.
↗ - WordReference · rauljms (Castellano):
En Perú es muy conocida la palabra Chibolo.
↗ - Puerto Rico — nene
- Tesoro PR:
La voz nene, na… sustituye corrientemente en Puerto Rico a niño, ña en el habla general rural y urbana (Álvarez Nazario 1990)
↗ - WordReference · aurilla (Puerto Rico):
En Puerto Rico usamos nene, chamaquito, muchachito.
↗
Where we're less sure
- AR (pibe): high — DAMER + two porteño posters. Card should probably say pibe (chico is the plain word).
- CL (cabro chico): high — DAMER + two Chilean posters; but DUECh could not be consulted online.
- CO (pelao): high for Antioquia (native Medellín poster + DAMER Co); Bogotá = chino is well attested (two Colombians + DAMER). Have a paisa confirm whether pelao or culicagao is what they'd put first for a little boy.
- DO (carajito): medium — solid lexicography (DED + DAMER) but NO Dominican forum native found; the desp. tag means a Dominican should confirm it is the everyday neutral-ish word and not rude.
- ES (chaval): high — DLE + three Spain posters. Note chaval skews older-child/teen; for a toddler Madrileños say crío/nene/peque (mariposita, Birke).
- MX (chamaco): high for CDMX (DEM + DAMER + lepus centro + Chipolata heard it in DF); the chamaco vs chavo split (age) is worth a native check; morro clearly north.
- PE (chibolo): high — Academia Peruana DiPerú + DAMER + WR poster (no location tag on rauljms, though the claim is about Peru).
- PR (nene): high — Tesoro (Álvarez Nazario, Vaquero) + PR native aurilla. The nene=pene note comes from prostitution jargon only; a PR native should say whether it matters for a card.
- DLE could not be fetched directly (Cloudflare) — the chaval quote is from a search-engine snippet of dle.rae.es/chaval. DiCol (Caro y Cuervo) was unreachable.