# One thing, many words: Spanish by country

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Updated 2026-10-29 · By Jacob Pradels · HTML version: https://learnwithkin.com/spanish/regional-words

> Spanish is the same language in every country that speaks it, but a lot of everyday words aren't. A straw is a *pajita* in Spain, a *popote* in Mexico and a *pitillo* in Colombia; a bus is an *autobús* in Spain, a *camión* in Mexico and a *guagua* in Puerto Rico. The differences are mostly in nouns for food and everyday things, and learning the words of the place you're headed to, while recognising the rest, is enough.

Spanish is spoken in more than twenty countries, and many everyday things got their names locally: from the languages spoken there before Spanish, from older Spanish words put to new uses, and from English. Grammar barely changes from one country to the next. The words for a straw, a bus or a bag of popcorn change a lot.

## Straw

*A drinking straw*

| Where | Word |
| --- | --- |
| Mexico | popote |
| Spain, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay | pajita |
| Colombia, Venezuela | pitillo |
| Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua | pajilla |
| Argentina, Ecuador, Peru | sorbete |
| Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama | sorbeto |
| Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia | bombilla |
| Cuba | absorbente |

*Popote* is from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, where *popōtl* was a plant used to make brooms. *Bombilla* is also the metal straw used to drink mate.

## Bus

*A city bus*

| Where | Word |
| --- | --- |
| Spain | autobús |
| Mexico | camión |
| Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, the Canary Islands | guagua |
| Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Paraguay | colectivo |
| Argentina, colloquially | bondi |
| Chile | micro |
| Uruguay, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay | ómnibus |
| Guatemala | camioneta |
| Much of Latin America | bus |

*Guagua* began in Cuba, and nobody is sure where it comes from: one guess is English *wagon*. In Chile *micro* is feminine, *la micro*; in Argentina it's *el micro*.

## Beans

*Beans, the kind you cook*

| Where | Word |
| --- | --- |
| Mexico, Central America, Peru | frijoles |
| Spain | alubias, judías |
| Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay | porotos |
| Venezuela | caraotas |
| Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic | habichuelas |
| Ecuador, Peru | frejoles |

In Spain *judías* are often green beans, and *alubias* the dried kind. In Cuba and Colombia, *habichuelas* are green beans too.

## Popcorn

*Popcorn: the word with the most versions*

| Where | Word |
| --- | --- |
| Mexico, Spain, and understood widely | palomitas |
| Argentina | pochoclo |
| Chile | cabritas |
| Peru | canchita |
| Ecuador | canguil |
| Colombia | crispetas |
| Venezuela | cotufas |
| Guatemala | poporopo |
| Cuba | rositas de maíz |
| Paraguay, Uruguay, parts of Argentina | pororó |

## Spain, Mexico and South America

Some words split more simply: one in Spain, another across Latin America, and sometimes a third in the south of the continent.


| English | Spain | Mexico | Chile, Peru, Argentina |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| avocado | aguacate | aguacate | palta |
| peanut | cacahuete | cacahuate | maní |
| juice | zumo | jugo | jugo |
| computer | ordenador | computadora | computadora (computador in Chile) |
| cell phone | móvil | celular | celular |

Two of these show where the words came from. *Aguacate* is the Aztecs' word, Nahuatl *āhuacatl*, and *palta* is the Incas', Quechua *pallta*: the same fruit, named in the two great empires Spain conquered. *Maní* is from Taíno, a language of the Caribbean.

## Which one should you learn?

- **The words of the place you're going, or the Spanish you'll read and watch.** If it's Mexico, learn *popote* and *camión*; if it's Spain, *pajita* and *autobús*.
- **Recognise the rest.** Spanish speakers meet each other's words all the time, on television and online, so most are understood well beyond the place they're said. You don't need to produce every version, only to know one when you meet it.
- **Learn words from the text you read.** A word you've met in a story you read is easier to keep than one from a list, and the story tells you where it's said.

## Questions

### How do you say straw in Spanish?

It depends on the country: *pajita* in Spain, *popote* in Mexico, *pitillo* in Colombia and Venezuela, *pajilla* in most of Central America, *sorbete* in Peru and Ecuador, and *sorbeto* in Puerto Rico.

### How do you say popcorn in Spanish?

*Palomitas* (de maíz) in Mexico and Spain, and understood in most places. But nearly every country has its own: *pochoclo* in Argentina, *cabritas* in Chile, *canchita* in Peru, *crispetas* in Colombia, *cotufas* in Venezuela.

### Should I learn the Spanish of Spain or of Latin America?

Whichever you'll use. The grammar is nearly the same; the differences that matter day to day are a handful of everyday words, the *vosotros* forms used in Spain, and pronunciation. Speakers from anywhere understand each other, and a learner who picks one and recognises the other is fine.

## Sources

- Thesaurus: pajita (drinking straw). Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:pajita
- Thesaurus: autobús. Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:autob%C3%BAs
- Thesaurus: palomita (popcorn). Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Thesaurus:palomita
- Spanish entries and their regional labels. Wiktionary. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Category:Regional_Spanish

## Related

- [Fine here, rude there: Spanish words that change by country](https://learnwithkin.com/spanish/words-that-change-meaning.md)
- [Vosotros vs ustedes](https://learnwithkin.com/spanish/vosotros.md)
- [The Spanish hiding in English](https://learnwithkin.com/spanish/hidden-cognates.md)

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