What does “chafa” mean in Mexican Spanish?

“Chafa” is the Mexican word for anything shoddy: a phone that breaks in a week, a knock-off jersey, a movie that flopped. Calling someone’s purple T-shirt “muy chafa” is a friendly jab — “that thing’s cheap.” It stretches beyond objects to events and people’s effort (“salió bien chafa,” it came out really half-baked), and even verbs as “chafear,” to fail or break down.

It pairs naturally with the rest of the Mexican slang toolkit — “chido” (cool), “chamba” (work) — and is everyday register, not vulgar. One folk etymology links it to English “chaff” (worthless husks); another to old slang for a badly minted coin. Either way, “chafa” is the opposite of “chido.”