Ask Lemmy

Pendejo is the most perfect one. It literally means pubic hair.

Cabrón is very powerful and basically means a man who consents his wife cheating on him. But you can also be a cabrona.

In Castilian Spanish: if you want something "wanna go outside" level of offensive: hijo de [la grandísima] puta (or hija if it's a she, in square brackets an optional reinforcer). Even if it's jokingly and to a friend' it's something you are careful to not misuse.

Me cago en tu padre/madre is a strong contender too.

Not really offencive, but my grandma hated with all her heart the term "mentirosa", lier, if you ever call her that even as joke or light comment she would go like really mad. I never use that words because is inscribed on me that is one of the worst way to call someone.

Coño. The translation varies by country but basically means pussy and is just a vulgar swear word. Pretty tame, but a Colombian I worked with used it super frequently.

I’m partial to “mal parido” meaning that someone was birthed wrong (hard to translate). You can always add a “de mierda” as a nice touch, or “ándate à la concha de tú madre” to close the insult’s loop.

I was once told, in certain circumstances, “Que mal creado”, which calls into question the other person’s upbringing, even specifically their Mother, without demeaning oneself, i.e. using swear words.

Mierde en palito = shit on a stick. I learned it from an old school Puerto Rican, and he used it for two things: an arrogant person (not just regular shit, but shit on a stick) and also for when someone is "stirring the pot" or making a drama filled situation worse via gossip, etc (stirring a pot full of shit). But primarily, it is well suited for the arrogant person huffing their own farts and thinking it is the aroma of personal worth.

(There was also the time a friend of mine got tired of looking after young kids and sent two demented nephews of his running through Disney World to see how many people they could greet in Spanish after sincerely telling them that the standard greeting in Spanish is mama me la pinga, but that's more of a direction as opposed to a label. Try mama me la pinga, pinchi pendejo for a nice combo phrase. Also note that online dictionaries often get this wrong: it's the verb mamar and you're not telling your mom you're a dick, lol)

This thread contains so many words I recognize. I don't speak Spanish, but I've worked with Argentinian geophysicists for years - You'd be surprised to learn how much someone's prostitute parents are relevant to resolving timing drift and background noise.

I can think of a couple that haven't been said: desgracia humana, mierda seca. But if you're looking for a list of offensive words here's a great song for you. Enjoy! rata de dos patas

I love all the comments in here with zero translation or explanation.

I’m pretty sure Trump is “Trump” in Spanish.

Well... since most of the big ones are taken, I'll throw in:
"Tu madre era una hamster, y tu padre olía a saúco."

EDIT: Actually, now that I remember, the Spanish from Spain have some breathtaking insults, such as:
"Me cago en la leche de tu madre" - "I shit in your mother's milk".

Chinga tu madre = fuck your mother. This works in most dialects afaik and is super offensive.

Puta = whore, hijoputa/hijaputa/hijeputa = son/daughter/child of a whore

Besa mi culo = kiss my ass

Some combination of those will almost guarantee a fight.

Cerote. noun, vulgar

A piece of shit.

Mostly Central America.

It strongly depends on what you want to offend, where the person is from and the gender. Spanish is spoken in many places, and so has many, many variants. For example calling a gay porteño "puto" is just another Tuesday for him, telling it to a very homosexual Spaniard might be the worst insult ever, telling it to a Mexican he might be lost waiting for the actual curse since they use puto as an emphasis, e.g. "puto chingón".

Also Spanish is a gendered language, I can't even think of a curse that doesn't rely on knowing the receiving end gender, since all have masculine and feminine form. With all of that being said, I think the safest bet would be "Hijo/a de puta", every place I know of uses this curse, and even if one doesn't it's very self understanding (unlike chingón, boludo, or gilipollas which are mainly use in their own countries and people from others might not even be fully aware of them)

Nowadays you can really mess people up calling them "picao del caño".

Mojón

South America

A big wet slow piece of shit. Can be used as a insult to intelligence or to moving too slowly if ableism is your thing.

Puto = male prostitute

I don't really know what it means but there's a self-deprecating slang that I learned from a parody of a French song I know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIHPtnAyD5I

Chicken dance.

Verga in Mexican Spanish means dick. But depending where you're from it could also mean to beat someone up. Imagine my surprise when I overheard a Central American coworker say "me lo verge bien" and I was thinking he fucked another guy.

Smack your butt and say culo

~~" Vete a la verga, hijo de puta"~~

~~Literally "go to de dick, son of a bitch", in essence it's a way to tell someone to piss off.~~

~~It loses sll of it's impact translated, but it's very vulgar phrasing.~~

Oops, realized you are looking for a term. Not a phrase.