What does “majo” mean in Spanish?
La mancha sospechosa en la boda de Morris
B1 Spanish listening practice · Spanish from Spain · Picked for people who know some
Majo (or maja for a woman) is one of the most-used compliments in Peninsular Spanish, meaning nice, likeable, or sweet-natured. In a podcast host’s retelling of a friend’s wedding, the groom gets summed up within the first breath as majísimo, majísimo — “really, really lovely” — before the story even gets to the mess on the bride’s dress. It works for people, and loosely for things too: un plan majo is a nice plan.
The word has real history behind the compliment: in late-18th-century Madrid, majos and majas were working-class men and women known for flashy dress and a proud, cheeky attitude — the culture Goya painted in La maja vestida and La maja desnuda. That defiant lower-class swagger has softened over two centuries into today’s everyday, affectionate “nice.”
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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.