carajo

From Spanish carajo.

• IPA^(key): /kaˈɾaxo/, [kaˈɾa.xo]
• Hyphenation: ca‧ra‧jo

carajo

1. (vulgar) naughty; nasty; obnoxious
2. (vulgar) general intensifier: fucking

carajo

1. (vulgar) objectionable person; jerk; motherfucker

The etymology is uncertain, but the most plausible source on the basis of both semantics and historical phonology appears to be unattested Vulgar Latin *c(h)araculum (“stick, rod”), which would have been a Latinized diminutive of Ancient Greek χάραξ (khárax, “stick”), whence also χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr).

Certain cognates include Portuguese caralho, Galician carallo and Catalan carall. Some claim that attempts to attribute Italian cazzo, with the same meaning, to the same etymon fail on phonological grounds, as the /r/ of carajo (or its absence in cazzo) remains unexplained, and no Latin phonological sequence develops as both /x/ in Spanish and /tts/ in Italian. However, the aforementioned carassus (“empty”) may be cognate with the word "carajo".

• IPA^(key): /kaˈɾaxo/ [kaˈɾa.xo]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -axo
• Syllabification: ca‧ra‧jo

carajo m (plural carajos)

1. (vulgar) cock

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:pene

   No importa ser inteligente si tienes grande el carajo.

   Being smart doesn't matter if you have a big dick.

2. (vulgar) (un carajo) shit (US), jackshit (US), sod all (UK), bugger all (UK)

   [No] me importa un carajo.

   I don't give a fuck.

3. (vulgar) (al carajo) hell

   ¡Vete al carajo!

   go to hell!

4. crow's nest (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)

carajo

1. (South America, Northwestern Spain, vulgar) shit!
2. (slang, vulgar) used as an intensifier, similar to the fuck

   ¿Qué carajo quieres? ― What the fuck do you want?

• Carajo is considered to be a vulgar word by many in South America and is replaced by the euphemistic forms caramba or carrizo depending on the context and in which country the term is used. Caras may have been used as a euphemism for carajo in the historical account of José Antonio Páez's battle order, "¡Vuelvan Caras!", at the Battle of Las Queseras del Medio, an important battle of the Venezuelan War of Independence in 1819.

• Chavacano: carajo
• → Cebuano: karaho
• → German: Karacho

• “carajo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024
• “carajo”, in Diccionario de americanismos [Dictionary of Americanisms] (in Spanish), Association of Academies of the Spanish Language [Spanish: Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española], 2010
• “carajo”, in Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española [Thesaurus of the Historical Dictionaries of the Spanish Language], Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], launched 2021
• “carajo”, in Diccionario del español de México, Segunda edición, Academia Mexicana de la Lengua, 2019
• Manuel Seco, Olimpia Andrés, Gabino Ramos (3 August 2023) “carajo”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA [BBVA Foundation]