What does “amarre” mean in Mexican Spanish?
El lado esotérico del mercado de Sonora
B1 Spanish listening practice · Mexican Spanish · Picked for people who know some
Amarrar means to tie up or moor a boat, so an amarre is literally a lashing — but at Mexico City’s Mercado de Sonora it means a love-binding spell, a ritual meant to tie someone to you. Vendors openly advertise amarres de amor alongside herbs and candles. The metaphor is exact: love imagined as a knot that somebody ties on purpose.
The clip tours the market itself — “el mercado esotérico más grande del país,” open since 1957 — where chamanes, santeros y curanderos offer “amarres y rituales de todo tipo,” for love, money, health or protection. The everyday verb is worth keeping too: in much of Latin America you amarras your shoes, your horse, or a boat to the dock.
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How common are the words in this B1 Spanish listening practice video?
How common in written Spanish
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Harder words in this video
These words are harder than B1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.