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coño

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Etymology and origin of the Spanish word coño

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1235 Fuero de Alcalá More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin cunnus
Ultimate origin
Latin cunnus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cunnus
French con
Spanish coño
From the same root
French connerie ← con

Pronunciation

  • /ˈkoɲo/, [ˈko.ɲo][1]

Forms

coño m (plural coños)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cunnus (“female genitals”).[2][1][3][4][5] The same word is Portuguese cono, with the newer feminine Portuguese cona, Asturian coñu, Aragonese conyo, Catalan cony, Occitan con, French con and Italian conno;[1] Coromines calls it common to all the Romance languages.[6][7][1]

De Vaan reconstructs *kut-no- (“scrotum, vagina”), from a root meaning “bag” that also gave Welsh cwd (“bag, scrotum”) and Old High German hodo (“testicle”); the Latin word could be a thematised n-stem.[8] Wiktionary calls the origin uncertain and lists other proposals: a link with cutis (“skin”), with cuneus (“wedge”), or with a root meaning “to cut”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The CDH's first record is the Fuero de Alcalá (c. 1235), in a clause on whoever seizes a married woman: Qui tomare a mulier maridada al coño.[9] DEMel has the spelling cono in the Disputa del cristiano y el judío of the first third of the 13th century.[10] Alonso cites it from Villasandino's Cantigas y decires, about 1406.[3]

Semantic evolution

Nebrija entered the word about 1495 with Latin cunnus;[11][12] Covarrubias and Autoridades left it out.[11][12] The modern dictionaries mark it as coarse, and record its use as an interjection of surprise or annoyance, and in many vulgar phrases, such as en el quinto coño “at the back of beyond”.[2][5][13] In the Americas it has other uses: in Chile it is a contemptuous word for a Spaniard, in Venezuela it means “guy”, and in Chile and Ecuador it is an adjective “stingy”.[2][14][1]

Timeline

  • first third of the 13th century – cono in the Disputa del cristiano y el judío.[10]
  • c. 1235 – the Fuero de Alcalá.[9]
  • c. 1406 – a poem by Villasandino.[3]
  • 1474–1479 – G. de Segovia's Gaya ciencia records the word.[3]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija's Spanish–Latin dictionary.[12][11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (vulgar) The vulva and vagina.[2][1][5]
  2. (Chile, derogatory) A Spaniard.[2][1]
  3. (Venezuela, vulgar) A guy, an individual.[2][14][1]
  4. (Ecuador) A blow struck with the point of one spinning top on another.[14]

Adjective

  1. (Chile, Ecuador) stingy, tight-fisted.[2][14][1]

Interjection

  1. (vulgar) Expresses surprise, anger or other feelings: ¡Coño, qué frío hace![2][5][1]
  • Latin cunnus
  • Catalan cony
  • Portuguese cona

Usage notes

The word is coarse in every sense; as an interjection it is used in Spain, the Caribbean and Venezuela.[2][1] Phrases include estar hasta el coño “to be fed up” and ¡qué coño!, which expresses resolve or contempt.[13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. coño
  3. ^ a b c d Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca
  4. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
  5. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
  6. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024)
  7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon
  8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE
  10. ^ a b Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock
  11. ^ a b c Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 317
  12. ^ a b c Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv
  13. ^ a b León, Víctor (1980), Diccionario de argot español y lenguaje popular, Madrid: Alianza Editorial
  14. ^ a b c d Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Coño.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/co%C3%B1o. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

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