verraco

From a derivative of Latin verrēs (“boar”). Compare Romance cognates with varying suffixes: Portuguese barrão, Asturian bracu, French verrat, etc.

• IPA^(key): /beˈrako/

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ako
• Syllabification: ve‧rra‧co

verraco m (plural verracos)

1. a male, uncastrated adult pig
   • 2001, Javier Ocampo López, Mitos y leyendas de Antioquia la Grande, Plaza & Janés, page 113:

     El verraco de Guaca es un macho porcino reproductor que aparece en los campos antioqueños con espíritu infernal; […]

     The boar of Guaca is a male reproducing pig that appears in the fields of Antioquia as an infernal spirit;

2. (archaeology) a stone sculpture of a pig or other quadruped created by the pre-Roman inhabitants of Iberia, especially the Vettones
   • 2003, Jesús Rafael Álvarez-Sanchís, Los vettones, Real Academia de la Historia, page 309:

     […] , siendo Balarus uno de los nombres que aparece en la inscripción funeraria de un verraco abulense

     , Balarus being one of the names that appears in the funerary inscription of a verraco from Ávila.

3. (Latin America) foolish, slovenly or misbehaving person
   • 2013, Silvio Hernando Torres Zuniga, Los Hijos Del Brujo, LibrosEnRed, page 490:

     Les cuento que este muchacho es un verraco; porque llegar aquí sin ninguna dirección, ni dinero y, para completar, sin saber leer ni escribir. Este muchacho es un verraco.

     I’m telling you that this guy is a fool; because he arrived here without any directions, nor money and, what’s more, not knowing how to read or write. This guy is a fool.

4. (Philippines) a stud, literally and figuratively; oftentimes used in the context of masculinity and machismo

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

• “verraco”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10