Spain’s Secret Lexicon: The Influence of Caló

This isn’t just a random collection of loanwords. It’s a story of centuries of coexistence, marginalization, and undeniable cultural influence. It’s the story of how a language used to preserve an identity became the source of some of Spain’s coolest and most common slang.

Who are the Gitanos and What is Caló?

To understand the words, we first need to understand their origin. The Romani people, known in Spain as Gitanos, first arrived on the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th century. Over the centuries, they faced immense persecution and systematic attempts to erase their culture and language. In response, their language became both a shield and a badge of identity.

The language they brought with them was Romani, an Indo-Aryan language with roots in Northern India. However, over generations of contact with Spanish, a unique linguistic blend emerged: Caló. Linguists classify Caló as a “para-Romani” language. This means it retains a significant amount of its original Romani vocabulary but has adopted the grammatical structure and phonology of Spanish, particularly the Andalusian dialect. For the Gitanos, Caló served as a cryptolect—a secret language—allowing them to communicate amongst themselves without being understood by the non-Romani, or payo, population.

From the Margins to the Mainstream

So, how did words from a guarded, marginalized community cross over into mainstream Spanish? The process was slow, complex, and happened through various channels of cultural contact.

• Proximity and Trade: For centuries, Gitano and non-Gitano communities have lived side-by-side, particularly in neighborhoods throughout Andalusia and in cities like Madrid. Daily interactions, trade, and shared spaces created a natural environment for linguistic borrowing.
• The Power of Flamenco: Flamenco music and dance, an art form deeply intertwined with Gitano culture, acted as a powerful vehicle for Caló. The raw, emotional lyrics of early flamenco songs were filled with Caló terms, exposing a wider audience to the language in a context of profound artistic expression.
• The “Cool” Factor of the Underworld: In the 20th century, particularly during the socio-cultural shifts of the 1970s and 80s, Caló words were adopted into jerga cheli and the slang of the quinqui subculture—a youth movement associated with delinquency and a rebellious, anti-establishment attitude. Words from Caló, perceived as gritty, authentic, and secretive, added an edgy flair to their speech.

From these subcultures, the words slowly seeped into the general slang vocabulary of young people and, eventually, into the informal speech of a much broader population.

The Caló Hall of Fame: Words You Might Already Know

The list of Caló-derived words in Spanish is surprisingly long. Many Spaniards use them daily without a second thought about their Romani origins. Here are some of the most prominent examples:

• Currar (to work)
  From the Caló currelar. This is arguably the most common Caló-derived word in Spain. While trabajar is the standard verb for “to work”, currar is what you say when you’re talking informally with friends. The noun form, curro, means “work” or “a job”.
  Example: No puedo salir esta noche, tengo mucho curro. (I can’t go out tonight, I have a lot of work.)
• Molar (to be cool, to like)
  From the Caló molar, meaning “to be worth” or “to have value”. If something “mola”, it’s cool, awesome, or you really like it. It’s a staple of informal Spanish.
  Example: ¡Cómo mola tu chaqueta! (Your jacket is so cool!)
• Chaval / Chavala (boy/kid, girl/kid)
  From the Caló chavó (boy) or the plural chavalé. This is the go-to informal word for a young person, equivalent to “kid”, “lad”, or “guy” in English.
  Example: ¿Qué hacen esos chavales ahí? (What are those kids doing over there?)
• Parné (money)
  From the Caló parné, a direct borrowing for “money”. While not as universal as the others, it’s a well-known slang term for cash, similar to “dough” or “bucks”.
  Example: Necesito conseguir parné para el fin de semana. (I need to get some cash for the weekend.)
• Chungo (bad, sketchy, difficult)
  From the Caló chunge, meaning “ugly” or “nasty”. If a situation is chunga, it’s difficult or dodgy. If a person is chungo, they might be sketchy or ill-tempered.
  Example: El examen de matemáticas estuvo muy chungo. (The math exam was really tough.)
• Camelar (to woo, to sweet-talk, to seduce)
  From the Caló camelar, which means “to love” or “to want”. In Spanish slang, it has taken on the more specific meaning of trying to win someone over, often with romantic intentions, through charm and flattery.
  Example: Intentó camelarla con flores, pero no funcionó. (He tried to woo her with flowers, but it didn’t work.)
• Gachó / Gachí (guy/man, girl/woman)
  This comes from gadjo / gadji, a fundamental word in Romani languages worldwide that means “a non-Romani person”. In Spanish slang, it lost its specific “non-Romani” meaning and simply became an informal term for a man or woman, similar to “bloke” or “dudette”.

A Legacy of Resilience

The adoption of Caló into mainstream Spanish is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it is a powerful testament to the cultural resilience of the Gitano people. Despite centuries of oppression, their language has left an indelible mark on the very culture that sought to suppress it. It’s a linguistic footprint that cannot be erased.

On the other hand, this borrowing often occurs without acknowledgment. The words are stripped of their historical and cultural context, absorbed into the mainstream as just “cool slang”. This linguistic appropriation can feel hollow when the Gitano community continues to face significant social discrimination and economic marginalization in Spain today. Their language is celebrated, but the people who created it are often still ignored or stereotyped.

So, the next time you hear someone say they have to currar, or that something mola mucho, take a moment to remember the journey those words have taken. They are more than just slang. They are living artifacts of history, carrying the story of the Spanish Romani people—a story of survival, identity, and an undeniable, secret influence on the Spanish language.