What does “¿qué pedo?” mean in Mexican Spanish?
Ella dice ser una desconocida y lo besa
B1 Spanish listening practice · Mexican Spanish · Picked for people who know some
Pedo literally means “fart,” but in Mexican Spanish it has grown into one of the most flexible slang words around, and ¿qué pedo? is its most common form — a casual greeting among friends, or a sharper “what’s going on?!” when something surprising just happened. In this clip, a man ambushed with an unexpected kiss reacts with exactly that: ¿qué pedo? ¿qué te pasa? — pure startled confusion, nothing to do with anything literal.
Pedo branches out from there: ni pedo shrugs off a bad situation as “no big deal,” mal pedo describes someone unpleasant or a bad vibe, and estar en el pedo means being caught up in some mess or drama. It’s strictly informal — save it for close friends, never for a boss, a teacher, or anyone’s parents.
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Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-ESP 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.