Spanish

[span-ish]

adjective

1. of or relating to Spain, its people, or their language.

noun

1. the Spanish people collectively.

2. a Romance language, the language of Spain, standard also in most of Latin America except Brazil. Sp, Sp.

Spanish

/ ˈspænɪʃ /

noun

1. the official language of Spain, Mexico, and most countries of South and Central America except Brazil: also spoken in Africa, the Far East, and elsewhere. It is the native language of approximately 200 million people throughout the world. Spanish is an Indo-European language belonging to the Romance group

2. (functioning as plural) Spaniards collectively

adjective

1. of or relating to the Spanish language or its speakers

2. of or relating to Spain or Spaniards

Other Word Forms

• anti-Spanish adjective
• half-Spanish adjective
• non-Spanish adjective
• pre-Spanish adjective
• pro-Spanish adjective
• pseudo-Spanish adjective
• quasi-Spanish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of Spanish¹

Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; Spain, -ish ¹

Example Sentences

The fable set against the Spanish Civil War forever changed him.

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Spanish police confirmed Lyons and Monaghan were killed within seconds of each other by the lone gunman who fled the scene on foot.

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Spanish and French government bond auctions put the latest tightening in yield spreads to test, he says.

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“I was just looking for a pitch in the zone that I could hit well,” Pages, who drove a 1-1 change-up into the right-field corner, said in Spanish.

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This week, the Spanish capital has been hosting an African Union-backed "world conference on people of African descent".

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When To Use

Plural word for Spanish

The plural form of Spanish can be Spanishes. This is used to refer to different varieties of the Spanish language, as in The Spanishes of Spain and Mexico are quite different. Phrases like varieties of Spanish and Spanish dialects are probably more commonly used to refer to multiple versions of the language, but the plural Spanishes is perfectly acceptable.