pendejo

Borrowed from Spanish pendejo.

• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /penˈdehəʉ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /pɛnˈdeɪhoʊ/, /pɛnˈdɛhoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

pendejo (plural pendejos)

1. (US, Mexico, slang, derogatory) A stupid person.

• Typically only used by Spanish-speaking people.

• IPA^(key): /penˈdexo/ [pẽn̪ˈd̪e.xo]

• Audio (Venezuela):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -exo
• Syllabification: pen‧de‧jo

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *pectinī̆culum, diminutive of Latin pecten (“pubic hair, comb”). The unexpected /nd/ may be due to the influence of pender (“hang down, dangle”). Compare Portuguese pentelho.

pendejo m (plural pendejos)

1. (rare, dated) pubic hair (a single hair growing in the pubic region)

   Hypernym: vello púbico

Uncertain.

pendejo m (plural pendejos, feminine pendeja, feminine plural pendejas)

1. (derogatory, vulgar, chiefly Latin America) arsehole, asshole, stupid, idiot, dirtbag, scumbag (a contemptible person)
2. (derogatory, chiefly Latin America) dumbass (stupid person)

   Synonyms: idiota, (Spain) gilipollas, (Argentina, Dominican Republic) boludo

   Paco reprobó el examen. Es un pinche pendejo.

   Paco failed the test. He's a fucking dumbass.

3. (Southern Cone, colloquial) young boy
   1. (Southern Cone, Panama, colloquial) man child
4. (Southern Cone) punk (an adolescent who presumes to be an adult)
5. (Costa Rica, Caribbean) coward
6. (Peru, vulgar) perspicacious, perceptive, cunning, smart, clever, scoundrel

   Le lanzaron un huevo a María. ¡Puta, qué pendejos!

   They threw an egg at María. Fuck, they're clever!

• Although in some contexts zonzo, bobo, tonto, menso, culero, tarado, idiota, imbécil, estúpido and pendejo may be synonyms, in most contexts they have a different degree of intensity, with zonzo having the mildest connotation, increasing in intensity in that rough order, to estúpido and pendejo, which have the most offensive meaning.

• “pendejo”, 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