"Skull" In Mexican Spanish

Factual Questions
1

Online translator apps and Spanish dictionaries are giving me two words for “skull.” One is “cráneo,” obviously from the same root as the English “cranium”; the other is “calavera.” My guess is that the former is used in more scientific contexts, the latter in more colloquial contexts, just as “cranium” and “skull” would be used in English.

However, there may be some regional differences and nuances that aren’t being picked up by dictionaries and translator apps.

So long story short, how would you say “skull” (colloquially) in Mexican Spanish? As in, “the skull of a goat”? La calavera de una cabra?

2

Googling both words indicates that cráneo is the word for real skulls and calavera is the word for fake skulls.

3

I am not even close to fluent in spanish but my understanding is that cráneo would be the preferred term when talking about a skull in a medical situation or in general life while calavera would imply a creepy or scary skull, or a skull with a symbolic or figurative purpose. Hamlet would be holding a calavera, not a cráneo, I should think.

In Mexico and maybe some other parts of Central and South America, calavera can also mean a whole skeletal body, such as the characters in the movies Coco and Book of Life.

edit: after reading some things online, I think calaveras are always ‘complete’ skulls while cráneos can be partial.

4

Hmm, so a real skull with a symbolic purpose could be both or either. Fantastic, lol.

5

Nonono-

“Craneo”, at least in European Spanish, is just the superior part of the skull, the part protecting the brain. “Calavera” is a literal translation of skull.

Usage may vary depending on the language variant, of course.

6

From this site: http://dle.rae.es/?w=diccionario (notice it includes regional variations)

Cráneo

  1. m. Caja ósea en que está contenido el encéfalo.
  2. m. calavera (‖ conjunto de huesos de la cabeza).
  3. m. coloq. Ur. y Ven. Persona muy inteligente.

Calavera

  1. f. Conjunto de los huesos de la cabeza mientras permanecen unidos, pero despojados de la carne y de la piel.
  2. f. Mariposa de la familia de los esfíngidos, de cuerpo grueso y peludo, con un dibujo en el tórax que recuerda a una calavera.
  3. f. El Salv. Enchufe eléctrico cuadrado que tiene varias conexiones.
  4. f. Méx. Cada una de las dos luces de la parte trasera de un vehículo.
  5. m. Hombre disipado, juerguista e irresponsable. U. t. c. adj.
7

And now the translation of Jerez’s link:

cráneo:

  1. bone box containing the brain
  2. skull (all the bones in the head)
  3. (colloquial, Uruguay and Venezuela) brainiac
    my addition: the first definition can apply with skin and all: me he dado un golpe en el cráneo: I’ve hit my skull/head (but the top-and-behind part, not the face). It can also apply with no skin: el doctor usaba un cráneo como pisapapeles: the doctor used a jawless skull as a paperweight.

calavera:

  1. all the bones in the head, staying together but with no skin or muscle
  2. a type of sphinx butterfly, the coloring of whose fat and hairy torso resembles a skull
  3. (El Salvador) electrical square plug with multiple connections (my note: think UK plug)
  4. (Mexico) each of the two lights on the rear of a vehicle
  5. an irresponsible, always-partying, always-broke man (my note: above college age)
8

Off topic but I learned something.

The main character in the excellent LucasArts game “Grim Fandango” is named Manuel Calavera. Fun.

9

And it was better than Coco.

10

Coco being another word which can mean head or skull :slight_smile: (among its many, many meanings).

11

Indeed, Calaveras County, CA.

Calaveras is the Spanish word for skulls; the county was reportedly named for the remains of Native Americans discovered by the Spanish explorer Captain Gabriel Moraga.

This info in interestingly ironic:

In 2015, Calaveras County had the highest rate of suicide deaths in the United States, with 49.1 suicides per 100,000 people.

12

I’m guessing the term would be endemic without that restriction. :slight_smile: