guagua

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See also: Guagua

Spanish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈɡwaɡwa/
  • Rhymes: -aɡwa
  • Syllabification: gua‧gua

Etymology 1

Onomatopoetic of the sound made by the wheel suspension of the bus. (The public transport buses in the Canary Islands were not very modern in the early years.) The Royal Spanish Academy considers this etymology debatable.

Noun

guagua f (plural guaguas)

  1. a trivial thing
  2. (Caribbean, Canary Islands) bus (with a fixed route)
    Synonyms: colectivo (Argentina, Mexico), combi, pesero (Mexico City)
  3. (Cuba, Dominican Republic) hemipter
    Synonym: hemíptero
Derived terms

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

Further reading