chabacano
Spanish, noun/t͡ʃabaˈkano/
chabacano is spelled C-H-A-B-A-C-A-N-O (9 letters) and appears about once in every 3 million words in written Spanish, the 70,049th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Chabacano is a Spanish masculine noun meaning “apricot” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Lengua hablada principalmente en la ciudad de Zamboanga, Filipinas, mezcla de español y tagalo”.
What does chabacano mean in English?
adjective
- 1
tacky, tawdry, gaudy, vulgar, coarse
noun
- 1
Mexicomasculineapricot
- 2
masculineChavacano (Philippine Creole Spanish)
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. Ordinario, grosero o de mal gusto. 2. De, o en lengua chabacana.
noun: 1. Lengua hablada principalmente en la ciudad de Zamboanga, Filipinas, mezcla de español y tagalo. 2. Albaricoque.
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 chabacano
- chabacana feminine
- chabacanos masculine plural
- chabacanas feminine plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce chabacano?
- /t͡ʃabaˈkano/
- [t͡ʃa.β̞aˈka.no]
- [t͡ʃaβ̞aˈkano]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to chabacano
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is chabacano in Spanish?
chabacano appears about once in every 3 million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).