What does wepa mean in Puerto Rico?

Wepa is an exclamation of excitement, celebration, or 'let's go!' Shout it at a party, a goal, or any happy moment. It's basically the Puerto Rican 'yeah!'

What does janguear mean?

Janguear comes from English 'to hang out' — meaning to chill or hang with friends. 'Vamos a janguear' = 'Let's hang out.'

What does brutal mean in Puerto Rican slang?

In PR, brutal means 'awesome' or 'amazing' — NOT cruel. '¡Esa canción está brutal!' = 'That song is awesome!'

What does bregar mean?

Bregar means 'to deal with,' 'to handle,' or 'to work on something.' It's the universal Puerto Rican verb. '¿Cómo bregamos esto?' = 'How do we handle this?'

Puerto Rican Slang: 50+ words boricuas actually use

Puerto Rican Spanish is the language of Bad Bunny, reggaeton, salsa, and one of the most influential Caribbean accents in the world. If you've ever wondered what perreo, brutal, wepa, or janguear mean in a song — this is the guide. Plus bregar, chacho, ay bendito, and the boricua expressions that make PR Spanish iconic.

Decoding a reggaeton lyric or PR DM? Try the conversation translator.

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Essential Puerto Rican slang

The words you'll hear from San Juan to any boricua group chat.

Boricua	Meaning	Example
wepa	yeah! / let's go!	¡Wepa, ganamos! Yeah, we won!
brutal	awesome / amazing	Esa canción está brutal. That song is awesome.
janguear	to hang out	Vamos a janguear. Let's hang out.
bregar	to deal with / handle	¿Cómo bregamos esto? How do we handle this?
chacho	dude / man	¡Chacho, qué pasó! Dude, what happened!
boricua	Puerto Rican (proud term)	Soy boricua. I'm Puerto Rican.
ay bendito	oh dear / aw man	Ay bendito, qué pena. Oh dear, what a shame.
nene / nena	kid / dude / babe	Nene, ven acá. Dude, come here.
guagua	bus	Cogí la guagua. I took the bus.
chinchorro	small bar / dive bar	Vamos al chinchorro. Let's go to the bar.
perreo	reggaeton dance / party	Hubo perreo intenso. There was intense reggaeton.
jevo / jeva	boyfriend / girlfriend	Es mi jeva. She's my girlfriend.
pana	friend / buddy	Mi pana del alma. My soul buddy.
guille	showing off / acting cool	Tiene guille de rico. He acts like he's rich.
fronteo	showing off / fronting	Puro fronteo. All show, no substance.
revolú	mess / chaos / commotion	Se armó un revolú. Total chaos broke out.
corillo	crew / group of friends	Vino el corillo. The crew came.
mano	bro (short for hermano)	Tranquilo, mano. Chill, bro.
acho	dude / man (short for muchacho)	¡Acho, mira eso! Dude, look at that!
al garete	out of control / wild	Todo está al garete. Everything's wild.

Street, party & reggaeton slang

Reggaeton, rumba, and the Spanglish-flavored Caribbean street talk.

Boricua	Meaning	Example
jartera	tired / fed up	Tengo una jartera. I'm so fed up.
tirar	to throw shade / diss	Le tiró en la canción. He dissed him in the song.
gufeo	joking around	Estoy en el gufeo. I'm just joking.
rumba	party	Esta noche hay rumba. There's a party tonight.
jincho	drunk	Está jincho. He's drunk.
mamey	easy / piece of cake	Eso es mamey. That's easy.
chévere	cool / great	Está chévere. It's cool.
fó	ew / gross	¡Fó, qué asco! Ew, that's gross!
echarse pa'lante	to push forward / hustle	Hay que echarse pa'lante. You gotta keep pushing.
tripear	to trip / mess with	No me tripees. Don't mess with me.

Top verbs behind Puerto Rican slang

These verbs power most boricua phrases — lock them down first:

Puerto Rican Slang: 50+ words boricuas actually use

Essential Puerto Rican slang

Street, party & reggaeton slang

Top verbs behind Puerto Rican slang

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