How do you say "stingy" in Spanish (Latin America)?

tacaño

Adjective Noun

In Spanish (Latin America), "stingy" is tacaño.

Listen to the pronunciation:

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Pronunciation

Say "tacaño" like ta-KA-nyo — the capitalized part gets the stress, and remember Latin American speakers pronounce every c and z as a soft s, never like "th".

Grammar notes

tacaño is a adjective used the same way as its English equivalent.

Example sentence

Era demasiado tacaño para dejar propina.

He was too stingy to leave a tip.

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How to remember tacaño

Split "tacaño" into small chunks and hum them while thinking of "stingy" — rhythm sticks better than raw memorizing.

Questions about tacaño

How do you pronounce tacaño?

Say "tacaño" like ta-KA-nyo — the capitalized part gets the stress, and remember Latin American speakers pronounce every c and z as a soft s, never like "th".

Is tacaño formal or casual?

tacaño is a neutral, everyday word that works in both casual and polite speech.

How is tacaño used in Spanish (Latin America)?

tacaño is used the same way as the equivalent English adjective. For example: Era demasiado tacaño para dejar propina. (He was too stingy to leave a tip.).

Where can I practice Spanish (Latin America) words for free?

You can play free Spanish (Latin America) minigames in your browser on the Noun Town online games page, no sign-up required. Every word in the Spanish (Latin America) glossary also has native audio and an example sentence you can revisit any time.

"Stingy" in other languages

Curated by Callan Ratcliffe

This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Spanish (Latin America) language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation. Want to play the full game? Get Noun Town on Steam.

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