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chapuza

Spanish, noun

chapuza is spelled C-H-A-P-U-Z-A (7 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written Spanish, the 52,113th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Chapuza is a Spanish feminine noun meaning “work, especially maintenance and involving manual labor, of little importance; odd job; jury-rigged” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a third-person singular present indicative of chapuzar. With an accent, chapuzá is a different word: “second-person singular voseo imperative of chapuzar”. The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Obra torpe o de mala calidad”.

What does chapuza mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    colloquialfemininework, especially maintenance and involving manual labor, of little importance; odd job; jury-rigged

  2. 2

    colloquialfemininesomething poorly done; botched job, shoddy work, botch

  3. 3

    Mexicocolloquialfemininecheat, trick, cheating, deceit (specially in sports, games, gambling, elections, seldom in commerce, almost never in sentimental relationships)

verb

  1. 1

    colloquialthird-person singular present indicative

  2. 2

    colloquialsecond-person singular imperative

verb

as chapuzá
  1. 1

    second-person singular voseo imperative of chapuzar

Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How Spanish dictionaries define it

noun: 1. Obra torpe o de mala calidad. 2. Trabajo esporádico e informal. 3. Engaño o abuso en una relación comercial por el que alguno obtiene beneficio ilegítimo.

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 chapuza

  • chapuzas plural
  • chapuz alternative

Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

English words that translate to chapuza

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is chapuza in Spanish?

chapuza appears about once in every 2 million words in written Spanish.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

What to look up after chapuza