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

While there are far fewer biographies of Franco than, for instance, of Churchill, books about the Spanish strongman are hardly scarce.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Two excommunicated Spanish nuns who have joined a sect were held for allegedly selling cultural assets belonging to the Catholic Church from a convent they refuse to leave, a court said on Friday.

Read more on Barron's

The Spanish football giant Barcelona has told fans it has "no connection whatsoever" with the digital coin offered by its new crypto partner, following criticism over the deal.

Read more on BBC

The incident happened on the Marella Explorer 2, operated by TUI, while it was located just north-west of the Spanish island.

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It added that the Spanish airline "cannot operate in areas where there is a high security risk" and added that Spain's aviation authority had recommended not flying at this time to Venezuela.

Read more on Barron's

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.