Spanish

Noun

coño m ‎(plural coños)

1. (slang, Spain) pussy, ****

Noun

coño m ‎(plural coños, feminine coña)

1. (Chile, slang, pejorative) Spaniard
2. (Philippines, slang) A person who belongs to wealthy Spanish- or English-speaking families. Also spelled konyo.
3. (Mexico, slang, rare) Hit or bump in the head given with the knuckles
4. (Venezuela, Maracaibo, vulgar) Guy, dude

Adjective

coño m, f ‎(plural coños)

1. (Chilean, Ecuador, slang) Stingy, tight-fisted

Interjection

¡coño!

1. (slang) Damn!, ****!, ****!

Related terms

• coñazo
• coñete

Usage notes

Coño is a common Spanish idiom (somewhat vulgar) primarily used in Spain and the Spanish Caribbean. Its actual meaning differs according to use, but in Spain and several Latin American countries it is also used in its literal sense as slang for the female genitalia, the ****.

Coño has become a feature of speech to express emphasis or to stress a wide variety of emotions, actually drifting from any of its original sexual references, in a situation similar to that of "****" in American English. The context, speaker’s sex, pronunciation, and tone define the emotion conveyed, almost as identically done with the word "damn" in English. An interlocutor may insert coño as an interjection in a sentence whenever the desire arises, even though it may be regarded as somewhat offensive if not carefully used. It is widely used in the Hispanic Caribbean and Spain but is completely absent from the speech of many other Latin Americans. Its most noticeable appearance into mainstream American pop culture may very well be in the film Scarface, where it was frequently used among its fictional Cuban characters. Several examples:

• fear: low tone, short vowels, high-pitched: ¡Coño, coño! ¡Esta abeja va a picarme! (This bee will sting me!)
• anger: high tone, short vowels: ¡Coño, ya te dije que no lo hicieras! (Hey, I already told you not to do that!)
• surprise: low tone, dragging out the "o": Coooño... ¿Están saliendo juntos? (Oh, really? Are they going out?)
• joy: dragging out the vowels, low-pitched: ¡Cooñoo! ¡Nuestro equipo ganó! (Thank goodness! Our team won!)

Other examples:

• ¡Coño, qué buena está! (Damn she looks good!)
• ¡Coño! ¡Mira qué pasó! (Damn! look what happened!)
• Yo no sé un coño de eso (I don’t know **** about that)
• ¿Dónde coño estás? (Where the **** are you?)
• ¡Coñazo! (in Dominican Republic: a stronger expression, like "****!")
• ¡Coñazo! (in Venezuela: a hard hit, a punch)
• ¡Qué se vaya pa'l coño de su madre (Venezuela, Cuba and Spain) (He can go to his mother's ****, like "He can go to ****") Here it is used in its literal meaning.
• In Spain coñazo is generally used to describe something that is boring, or a pain in the ass or tedious, etc.

Philippine usage:

In the Philippines, coño (Tagalog: konyo) refers to a wealthy Anglophone person raised and/or living in a gated community, though the term originally referred to insular Spaniards, regardless of socioeconomic status. However, it is also likely that the term was used by people of high society to denote mestizos or half-breeds, particularly when in the olden times the natives, formerly called indios, were taunted as being children of women who marry peninsulares or insulares in order to elevate their social status. The word Coño therefore became slang for harlotry. The variety of English that these konyos informally speak among themselves is termed Konyo English, or simply Konyo, which is comparable but not similar to Valley Speak. Furthermore, the term coño in the southern part of the country, Zamboanga City, is a vulgar term for ****, or the entirety of the female genitalia.

Venezuelan usage:

In Venezuela, the word is generally used in the expressions coño de su madre (like, "****") and el coño de tu madre (lit., "your mother’s ****"). The former is an adjective and the latter an extremely offensive insult. It is also locally common as a diminutive, coñito, in reference to unruly or nasty children.

Cuban and Canary Islands usage:

In Cuba and in the Canary Islands, the contraction ñooo frequently replaces coñó (stressed on the last syllable), but it is not offensive. It can mean darn or wow. For example:

• ¡Ñoooo! ¡Qué barato! (Wow! How cheap!)
• ¡Ñoo! Hay un examen mañana. (Darn, there’s a test tomorrow.)
• ¡Ya coño! !Yaa coñooo! (Oh **** or Goddamn). ¡Yaa coñooo, me cogió la policía! (Oh ****, the police caught me.)

United States usage:

In the United States of America, unlike other Spanish words or expressions, the word coño is widely absent from English recognition. Among Puerto Rican, Dominican, and Cuban-Americans, coño is very common as a fairly mild expletive, equivalent to "damn" or "dammit." The main slang used for female genitalia being rather chocha / chocho (for Puerto Ricans).