Spanish · Frustration (Traffic, Bureaucracy, Life)
¡Chingada madre!
cheen-GAH-dah MAH-dreh · /tʃin.ˈɡa.ða ˈma.ðɾe/
Goddammit! / motherf—!
4/5 Fighting words
aimed at a person, will start something
Literally
"Screwed mother"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
A heavy, pure-frustration blast — the thing you yell when you smash your thumb or the server crashes at midnight. Aimed at the world, it's venting; put "tu" in front ("tu chingada madre") and you've insulted someone's mother and it's a 5. The polite escape hatches: "¡ah, chingá!" or just "¡chin!"
Heard in the wild
¡Chingada madre, se borró todo el archivo!
Goddammit, the whole file got deleted!
Where it lands
Mexico (universal)
Quick answers
- What does "¡Chingada madre!" mean?
- In Spanish, "¡Chingada madre!" means "Goddammit! / motherf—!". Literally it's "Screwed mother". A heavy, pure-frustration blast — the thing you yell when you smash your thumb or the server crashes at midnight. Aimed at the world, it's venting; put "tu" in front ("tu chingada madre") and you've insulted someone's mother and it's a 5. The polite escape hatches: "¡ah, chingá!" or just "¡chin!"
- Is "¡Chingada madre!" offensive?
- Yes — very. It rates 4/5 on the Punch-o-Meter (Fighting words). aimed at a person, will start something. Read the usage note before you even think about it.
- How do you pronounce "¡Chingada madre!"?
- Say it "cheen-GAH-dah MAH-dreh" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: tʃin.ˈɡa.ða ˈma.ðɾe.
Related in Spanish
Hijo de la chingada EE-hoh deh lah cheen-GAH-dah Son of a bitch (the heavy Mexican version) ¡Chin! CHEEN Darn! / Shoot! ¡Carajo! kah-RAH-hoh Damn it! / hell ¡Mierda! MYEHR-dah Shit! / crap ¡Puta madre! POO-tah MAH-dreh Goddammit! / fucking hell! ¡Me lleva la chingada! meh YEH-bah lah cheen-GAH-dah I'm so screwed! / For fuck's sake!
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Damn".
- French Putain ! Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really
- German Scheiße! Shit! / Damn! — the all-purpose German expletive
- Greek γαμώτο Damn it! / Dammit!
- Italian Cazzo! Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse.
- Japanese くそ Damn! / Crap! / Shit!
- Korean 씨발 Fuck / fucking hell — the load-bearing Korean curse.
- Polish kurwa Fuck / damn / shit — the load-bearing word of Polish, and its most common comma.
- Portuguese Porra! Damn! / Fuck! — but mostly used as pure punctuation
Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.