A couple of weeks ago I was watching the novela Amores Verdaderos with my mom. I haven’t been watching a lot of telenovelas lately. I still think Kate Del Castillo’s La Reina Del Sur has pretty much ruined all telenovelas for me right now. Every time I try to watch a new novela I just want to see more guns and violence and salty language. ¡Quiero que se porten bien mal, jajaja!
Anyway, as we were watching my mom’s novela this character came on screen. Her name in the show is Polita and she’s the housemaid. You know, the usual. She talks loud and fast; she’s really hyper and positive; and bien trabajadora! Think of her as a cross between La India Maria and Don Cheto, not too tonta but not as tosca as Don Cheto. Wow, that’s a whole Mexi-Vocabulario dictionary right there! Pero I digress…
So as we were watching I said ¿¡y esa!? ¡está bien chapeada! The operative word in that phrase is chapeada. My mom busted out laughing as soon as I said it and for a minute or two she couldn’t stop grinning in amusement.
That got me thinking. Not a lot of people use that word. I have honestly only ever heard my mom use it to describe what could best be described as rosy cheeks. O sea someone who has really rosy pink cheeks. They don’t necessarily have to be chunky or chubby, gorditos (or whatever you want to call it). Flacos and Flacas can be chapeados too.
Online the closest translation to English I found was either flushed or blushed.
That sounds about right too. Do you ever use this word? Have you heard it before?
I’m always on the hunt for new mexi-vocabulario.
What other words would you like me to include in the mexi-vocabulario? If you have one that you would recommend please share it with me here.
Writer’s Disclaimer: When I say mexi-vocabulario I don’t necessarily mean these words are exclusively Mexican, or only used by Mexicans. This is simply an expression of how they were introduced to me in our Mexican Spanish.
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4 thoughts on “Mexi-Vocabulario: ¡Chapeada!”
I’ve heard the word “chapeada” before, but usually to describe that something is coated/plated, usually when something is gold-plated. I didn’t know that it was also used to describe someone with rosy cheeks. We always use the word “chapeteado/a”.
Here’s what my kids’ Spanish language dictionary says about the word: Chapeado/a – adj. que esta recubierto de pelicula metalica. || Mex. Que tiene mejillas sonrosadas, natural o artificialmente.
You learn something new every day! (That’s why I love your Mexi-Vocabulario posts.) 🙂
Aww thanks, Leslie! We both learned something this time 🙂 Thanks for sharing!
I’m Peruana-American and we say chapeteado or chapeteado to mean the same thing.
Love your site and podcast Juan! Try “El Señor de los Cielos” – ay se da con “La Reina del Sur”