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What does the word pinche mean?

¡Pinche loco!

¡Pinche!

¿Cuál es el significado de la palabra pinche?

¡Pinche loco!

¡Pinche!

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    You are asking about Mexico, isn't it? In other places, a pinche is just a cook's aid.
    – Gorpik
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 10:47
  • In Spain pinche is just cook's aid, as @Gorpik said. I know there are other meanings in other countries.
    – jalazbe
    Commented Aug 29, 2017 at 15:54

6 Answers 6

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I'm Mexican and we never use pinche as Kitchen boy, though some Mexicans would know it also means chef's helper. We always use it as an insult enhancer and can turn almost any curse word into a really rude one:

  • pinche pendejo/pendeja = fucking asshole

  • pinche puto/puta = fucking faggot/whore

  • pinche culero = fucking asshole

When used alone as an adjective it just means something lousy, ugly, something that sucks.

Esta fiesta esta bien pinche This party is really lousy / This party really sucks

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  1. Kitchen boy. The guys who clean up the Chef's mess and scrub the frying pans and carry stuff around. In this context it's still used in Spain.
  2. In Mexico, it's an all-purpose insult enhancer, which would be roughly equivalent to the use of fucking in English. If Jay (Silent Bob's hetero life mate) spoke Spanish, he would say pinche A LOT. Pinche is strongly associated with cursing in Mexican Spanish and the very moment you use it gives you away as a Mexican national. So you pinches gringos take that into account if youre trying to pass for an Argentine or whatever.
  3. In Mexico, it's also used as an adjective to describe something as insignificant, lousy, miserable or worthless.

Examples:

Pinche gringo culero ve a chingar a tu reputisima madre! (Fucking gringo asshole go fuck your loosecunt cocksucking mother!)

Tu pinche hermana está bien pinche, wey. (Your fucking sister is so fucking ugly, dude!)

in the last example, the first pinche means only fucking while the second means fucking ugly

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    And hope I could give another +1 for the Jay & Bob reference :D
    – Arkana
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 14:37
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    Well, I didn't understand the Jay & Bob reference. Anyway, sometimes pinche is a compliment. Like somebody makes a cruel joke and you laugh and say "¡qué pinche eres!", but I guess that is encompassed in your point 3, plus sarcasm.
    – c.p.
    Commented Jan 3, 2014 at 14:53
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    So it has the same origin as the English word slut... interesting.
    – Flimzy
    Commented Jan 31, 2014 at 21:39
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Añado esta referencia de acuerdo con lo indicado en Juntemos en respuestas wiki las respuestas cortas específicas de regiones. Edita libremente para incluir la versión de tu país o región.

Chile

  • Hair clip

Colombia

  • Derogatory term for things and people

Costa Rica

  • Describes people as "cheap" and/or "ugly"

Guatemala

  • Denotes a perceived lack of value about something. It is derogatory in nature and can be translated as miserable, trivial, wretched, insignificant, etc.

México

  • Insult enhancer (equivalent to the use of fucking in English)
  • Adjective to describe something as insignificant, lousy, miserable or worthless.

Nicaragua

  • Describes people as "cheap" or "stingy"

Panamá

  • Insult enhancer

Spain

  • Kitchen boy

Cuba

  • To work
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  • In Colombia it's used a derogatory term, pinche carro means this cars is a piece of junk, also used with people, meaning useless, inferior, underperformer.
    – digitai
    Commented Jan 31, 2014 at 20:49
  • In Guatemala pinche is used to denote a perceived lack of value about something. It is part of the informal vocabulary and is not considered an insult although still derogatory in nature. Safe translations in Guatemala would be: miserable, trivial, wretched, insignificant, etc.
    – oscar palencia
    Commented Aug 23, 2014 at 8:04
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In Nicaragua it is used as a term to describe people as "cheap" or "stingy":

Eres pinche

means

You're cheap/stingy

In south Texas it's used the same way; also used to imply something as cheap or worthless.

"Ese viejo es bien pinche" means "That man is really stingy"

"Ese pinche viejo no hace nada bien!" means that worthless man doesn't do anything well.

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I am of Mexican descent and have friends from Panama and Colombia that both understand pinche as "fucking." It is not just isolated to Mexico.

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In Chile if you say "pinche" it most likely means hair clip. It's a hair clip.

Example:

Pásame el pinche Pass me the hair clip

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