What is a “quincena” in Mexican Spanish?

Quincena comes straight from quince, “fifteen,” plus the collective ending -ena that also builds docena (“dozen”) and decena (“group of ten”). In Mexico and much of Latin America, it names the twice-monthly payday — most salaries are split into two quincenas, paid around the 15th and the 30th, rather than weekly like many English-speaking countries. In this clip, a daughter calls her mother specifically to pedir adelanto de quincena, asking for an early advance on that paycheck.

The quincena runs deep into daily life in Mexico: rent, big purchases, and even sales promotions get timed around it, since that’s when most people actually have cash. Asking for un adelanto de quincena — an early advance before payday officially lands — is common enough to be its own well-understood, slightly awkward favor to ask a boss, a parent, or in this case, a mother playing the role of both.