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A new week means a new word… better said a new Dominican word! We hope this week has been wonderful, and full of learning, so as a bonus to you all, here we add a little fun knowledge of the Dominican language.

Our hope is to facilitate a better understanding between Dominicans and foreigners, which is why we’re bringing you one Dominican word per week, to help you comprehend our unusual, yet creative form of speech.

The word of this week is “tiguere”. The word “tiguere” is used by Dominicans to describe a very astute or cunning person, someone who is skilled at manipulation, someone who gets what they want by deceit or evasion. The most close translation would be a “trickster”, but it can also be used to described young guys in general, almost in the same way that “dude” or “bro” is used in the US.

“Tiguere”

“Tiguere” it is used to define a crafty, opportunist and trickster person, is this common guy who has a good repertory of abilities to manage many situations. Someone who is not fooled. Who always sees or seeks advantage in things.

** Sometimes this term is also used as a synonym for “delinquent”.

Example 1:

Dominican 1: Ten cuidado que el novio de tu hermana e’ un “tiguere”./ Hey bro, be careful I think your sister’s boyfriend is an opportunist.

Dominican 2: Yo no creo, el es un buen muchacho. / I don’t think so, he is a good guy.

Example 2:

Julian me quiere engañar y él lo que no sabe es que yo soy ma’ “tiguere”. / Julian wants to fool me and he doesn’t know I’m more of a trickster than him.

So far we have learnt jumo, guayarse, deguabinao, jartura, yeyo, chepa, dique, empepillar, moriqueta, decricaje, motete, pinta, timbí, clavo, chapusero, manganzón, titua, jociador, pecozón, pariguayo, chivato, quillao, bultero, agallú, arranca’o, apero, amemao, bojote, boche therefore if you missed out on any of your classes you have time to catch up by clicking on any of these links.