What does "nano" mean in Spain? Is it an offense to call somebody "nano"? Somebody in Spain called me "nano" and I don't know what it means.
Hola, nano, que tal todo?
Spanish Language Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for linguists, teachers, students and Spanish language enthusiasts in general wanting to discuss the finer points of the language. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this communityWhat does "nano" mean in Spain? Is it an offense to call somebody "nano"? Somebody in Spain called me "nano" and I don't know what it means.
Hola, nano, que tal todo?
'Nano' is a shortened form of 'Enano' ('dwarf'). 'Enano' itself is used in some areas to refer to children:
In Comunidad Valenciana, this shortened form 'nano' is more commonly used than 'enano' due to the influence of Catalan (the sister language of Spanish speaked in Andorra, Catalonia, Comunidad Valenciana and Baleares, which is named as Valencian there, albeit being the same language). Also, it has get commonly used to speak to (not about) people who are not children but you have confidence to speak to in that way.
It is clearly not formal, but I would not say it is clearly vulgar.
Here in Chile is very very common call "nano" to people whose name is "Fernando", "Hernando", or any name composed by [*]nando. We say that "a los Fernandos se les dice Nano" (something like "someone named Fernando would be called Nano". As common as informal. I don't know the country where it was heard, so answer this question just in case.
It is usually used in Comunidad Valenciana (Spain) to, as you do in english:
Ey dude
Hi broher
It is a Spanish slang word. It is not an offense.
But as I suggested you in the "o sea" question, do not use it, it is kinda vulgar