castigar
Spanish, verb/kastiˈɡaɾ/
castigar is spelled C-A-S-T-I-G-A-R (8 letters) and appears 6.9 times per million words in written Spanish, the 9,416th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Castigar is a Spanish verb meaning “to punish, to castigate (to cause to suffer for crime or misconduct)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Imponer un castigo al que ha delinquido, infringido una regla o faltado en alguna cosa”.
What does castigar mean in English?
verb
- 1
to punish, to castigate (to cause to suffer for crime or misconduct)
- 2
to ground, gate (to punish, especially a child or teenager, by forcing them to stay at home and/or give up certain privileges)
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Imponer un castigo al que ha delinquido, infringido una regla o faltado en alguna cosa. 2. Afligir, mortificar. 3. Tratándose de algún escrito u obra literaria o artística, corregirlos o enmendarlos. 4. Advertir, enseñar, prevenir.
verb: 1. Escarmentar. 2. Traer consecuencias negativas o desagradables.
The definition in the Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), in Spanish.
Source: Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of castigar
- castigo first-person present singular
- castigué first-person preterite singular
- castigado participle past
- g-gu alternation
- castigando gerund
- castigada feminine participle past
- castigados masculine participle past
- castigadas feminine participle past
- castigas indicative informal present
- castigás indicative informal present
- castiga indicative present singular
- castigamos first-person indicative plural
- castigáis indicative plural present
- castigan indicative plural present
- castigaba first-person imperfect indicative
- castigabas imperfect indicative second-person
- castigábamos first-person imperfect indicative
- castigabais imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce castigar?
- /kastiˈɡaɾ/
- [kas.t̪iˈɣ̞aɾ]
- [kast̪iˈɣ̞aɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to castigar
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is castigar in Spanish?
castigar appears 6.9 times per million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).