# Spanish Translation: Spanking **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 27, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280 "2014-12-27T14:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/1 "2014-12-27T14:31:01Z")
Google Translate is giving me different words, depending on context, for the same context, but neither seem to work. I’m talking about the disciplinary action of spanking (e.g., spanking a naughty child) - repeated smacks on the buttocks with a hand or implement. Google Translate gives me forms of _golpear_ (“to hit”) or _palizar_ (“to beat”). Although I suppose one could argue that either would translate, I’m looking for a word that specifically refers to the act of inflicting corporal punishment on the buttocks of a miscreant (or in sexual foreplay, or whatever). **Nava**?? ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/2 "2014-12-27T16:34:34Z")
_Pegar en el culo_ or _golpear en el culo_ are the most accurate translations I can come up with. Pegar is more common in Spain, golpear is more common in much of Latin America; some dialects or specific sentences would skip the “en”. Other versions are _pegar_, _golpear_, _apalizar_ (I’ve never seen it without the leading a-; it would never refer to a consensual act but it can refer to beating someone’s buttocks until the point of causing serious harm), _dar una paliza_ (this is more whole-body), _dar cachetes_ (this can refer to ass or face), _dar cachetes en el culo_. _Dar una palmada en el culo_ would be “slapping someone’s ass once”; _dar palmadas en el culo_ would be “slapping someone’s ass repeatedly but without force”. Other non-consensual versions include _dejarle el culo plano_ (flattening his ass), _dejarle el culo como el de un mono_ or _el de un mandril_ (to leave his ass looking like a baboon’s), _destrozarle el culo_ (to break up his ass). The places where I say “his” in the translation it’s actually his or hers, the Spanish pronoun isn’t gendered. Sorry, no identical-meaning one-word translation. They aren’t different languages simply because they have different words, but because they have different concepts. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/3 "2014-12-27T16:40:26Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > _Pegar en el culo_ or _golpear en el culo_ are the most accurate translations I can come up with. Pegar is more common in Spain, golpear is more common in much of Latin America; some dialects or specific sentences would skip the “en”. > > Other versions are _golpear_, _apalizar_ (I’ve never seen it without the leading a-; it would never refer to a consensual act but it can refer to beating someone’s buttocks until the point of causing serious harm), _dar una paliza_ (this is more whole-body), _dar cachetes_ (this can refer to ass or face), _dar cachetes en el culo_. _Dar una palmada en el culo_ would be “slapping someone’s ass once”; _dar palmadas en el culo_ would be “slapping someone’s ass repeatedly but without force”. Other non-consensual versions include _dejarle el culo plano_ (flattening his ass), _dejarle el culo como el de un mono_ or _el de un mandril_ (to leave his ass looking like a baboon’s), _destrozarle el culo_ (to break up his ass). The places where I say “his” in the translation it’s actually his or hers, the Spanish pronoun isn’t gendered. > > Sorry, no identical-meaning one-word translation. They aren’t different languages simply because they have different words, but because they have different concepts. “Azotar”, you are forgetting “azotar”. That’s a fairly direct translation. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/4 "2014-12-27T16:42:09Z")
But it isn’t restricted to the ass, and in fact it originally involves using a short whip (the original meaning of _azote_). Christ’s 40 weren’t on the ass, but we say He got 40 _azotes_. It is a fairly direct translation and you’re right I was missing it, but again there are connotations and meanings which aren’t there in “spanking”. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/5 "2014-12-27T16:44:25Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > But it isn’t restricted to the ass, and in fact it originally involves using a short whip (the original meaning of _azote_). Christ’s 40 weren’t on the ass, but we say He got 40 _azotes_. It is a fairly direct translation and you’re right I was missing it, but again there are connotations and meanings which aren’t there in “spanking”. In the context of disciplining a child, though, it means spanking. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/6 "2014-12-27T16:49:02Z")
In a sexual context, and the OP actually asked for both, it can and often means doing an Ecce Homo, it’s not restricted to the buttocks. In a sexual context and when you want to specify the buttocks, you will usually include an _(en) el culo_. And in a child-discipline context, one of the differences between _pegar en el culo_ and _azotar_ (specially when a whip or belt is used) is that _azotar_ is more likely to roam over to thighs, sides or back. _Pegar en el culo_, without more information, means with your hand: most people control their hands better than a belt. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/7 "2014-12-27T17:04:37Z")
The first word that came to my mind was [_nalgada_](http://www.wordreference.com/es/en/translation.asp?spen=nalgada) or _nalgadas_, which in my experience is the most common translation. Literally it means to smack on the buttocks (_nalgas_). It’s a noun, so for the act you would say _dar una nalgada_. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/8 "2014-12-27T18:16:38Z")
I’m drifting here, but I was going to post a separate thread on this, and I can wedge my way in by way of word association. When Santa está checkeando una lista, what’s “naughty” and “nice?” Also, in NYC we say “checkeando” which is obviously Spanglish; I don’t know the standard word. (And “wacking off” sounds very close to that, which is how I unfortunately learned it in the first place…) ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/9 "2014-12-27T18:44:50Z")
I knew a Latin American woman. I’m not sure what country she came from but it was Central America (south of Mexico if you count that as CA). She said “dar\* nalgadas” I knew the verb “to give” but did not know nalgadas until I saw her son cover his bottom and I could guess what it meant. \*I don’t recall exactly which form of the verb she used, probably dare’. ---
**Author:** ![Mapache](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/58956e/32.png) [@Mapache](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mapache)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/10 "2014-12-27T19:09:35Z")
“Nalgas” is, at least in Mexico, slang for, er, the sittting-down parts. So “nalgadas” corresponds to “patadas” which means kicks, from “patas” which usually means paws or hooves but is slang for feet, or “punadas” (which should have a tilda squiggle over the n but my ipod doesn’t have tildas) "punch"from puno (also lacking a squiggle) which means fist. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/11 "2014-12-27T20:05:25Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > When Santa está checkeando una lista, what’s “naughty” and “nice?” \*Santa comprueba (\*or _[chequea](http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=chequear)) si has sido bueno o malo_. (Santa checks whether you’ve been good or bad). _[Nalga](http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=nalga)_ isn’t slang for “sitting down part”, it’s the absolutely correct and even clinical name for the buttcheeks. And in one of those curious twists of meaning, DRAE says that [nalgada](http://lema.rae.es/drae/?val=nalgada) means both “a strike with the buttcheek(s)” and “a strike on the buttcheek(s)” (also, a ham made from the pig’s back leg, as opposite to _paleta_, which is a ham made from the pig’s front leg). To get the ñ, see if it’s one of the options when holding down n. I don’t know about Apple, but in Android it’s there (and not only for phones using the OS in Spanish). ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spanish-translation-spanking/708280/12 "2014-12-27T20:10:06Z")
> [@Mapache](#): > > “Nalgas” is, at least in Mexico, slang for, er, the sittting-down parts. It’s not really slang, it’s the proper word for buttocks. _Trasero_ (rear end) would be more polite. _Culo_ (butt) is a bit rude. > [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > When Santa está checkeando una lista, what’s “naughty” and “nice?” “To check” is _revisar_. “Naughty” would be _malcriado_ (disobedient) or _travieso_ (mischievous). “Well-behaved” would be _que se porta bien_.