caray

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Catalan carall. Doublet of carajo. Cognate with Portuguese carai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈɾai/ [kaˈɾai̯]
• Rhymes: -ai
• Syllabification: ca‧ray

Interjection

caray (euphemistic, colloquial)

1. crikey, wow, good heavens, golly, gosh, whoa, man, boy, blimey (expresses surprise, astonishment)
2. heck, darn, gee, shucks, hell, geez, jeez, dang (expresses disturbance, anger, frustration, annoyance)

Synonyms

• caracho
• caramba
• carambas
• carape
• córcholis
• recórcholis

Derived terms

• qué caray

Further reading

• “caray”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• Seco, Manuel; Andrés, Olimpia; Ramos, Gabino (2023), “caray”, in Diccionario del español actual [Dictionary of Current Spanish] (in Spanish), third digital edition, Fundación BBVA
• “caray”, in Diccionario del estudiante [Student Dictionary] (in Spanish), third edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2016