What does “mirilla” mean in Spanish?

Historia de terror: la mirilla y el timbre

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B1 Spanish listening practice · Spanish from Spain · Picked for people who know some

💡 Did you know?
mirilla
Spanish household word (and a horror-story hook)
“peephole” — the little lens in a front door

In this animated horror story, a girl checks who’s at the door late at night by looking through the mirilla — the peephole set into her front door — and what she sees through it drives the whole story. Mirilla comes from mira (“sight/view”), itself from the verb mirar, “to look,” with the diminutive -illa shrinking it to “little viewing spot” — the everyday word for the fisheye lens on any Spanish door.

The diminutive -illa/-illo is a productive pattern worth noticing elsewhere: ventana (window) → ventanilla (a small window, like a ticket counter’s), puerta (door) → portilla (a small gate or hatch). In the story, the girl looks through the mirilla twice before deciding whether to open the door — the peephole is both her only source of information and the thing that finally warns her not to trust what she’s seeing.

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this B1 Spanish listening practice video?

91.3%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common Spanish words
Most of the words in this video are common Spanish words.

How common in written Spanish

85.4%
Top 1,000
91.3%
Top 2,000
96.3%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken Spanish

92.8%
Top 1,000
97.8%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000
👄 Words for talking
This video uses words people often say in Spanish.

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than B1. Here is what they mean.

timbre
6×
Not in top 5,000
(brand) timbre — doorbell or sound
mirilla
3×
Not in top 5,000
peephole
cerrojo
2×
Not in top 5,000
bolt (for locking)
dormida
2×
Not in top 5,000People say this a lot
asleep

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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