guagua

See also: Guagua

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡwaɡwa/ [ˈɡwa.ɣ̞wa]
• Rhymes: -aɡwa
• Syllabification: gua‧gua

Etymology 1

Possibly onomatopoeic of the sound made by the wheel suspension of the bus, though the Royal Spanish Academy considers this proposed etymology debatable.

Noun

guagua f (plural guaguas)

1. a trivial thing
2. (Caribbean, Canary Islands) bus (with a fixed route)

   Synonyms: autobús, bus, camión (Mexico), camioneta (Guatemala), colectivo, micro (Argentina, Chile), ómnibus (Bolivia, Paraguai, Peru, Uruguay), pesero (Mexico City)

3. (Cuba, Dominican Republic) hemipter

   Synonym: hemíptero

Derived terms

• guagüera
• guagüero

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Quechua wawa (“infant, child”). Possibly imitative of a baby's sound.

Noun

guagua f (plural guaguas)

1. (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru) baby, infant

   Synonym: bebé

   • 1915, Julio Vicuña Cifuentes, Mitos y Supersticiones Recogidos de la Tradición Oral Chilena, page 53:

     [Los duendes] son pequeñitos y visten como las guaguas, con el mismo traje que llevaban en vida.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (Peru) a type of sweet bread shaped like a baby

See also

• nene

Further reading

• “guagua”, 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