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esto

Spanish, pronoun

esto is spelled E-S-T-O (4 letters) and appears 1,122 times per million words in written Spanish, the 67th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Esto is a Spanish neuter pronoun meaning “substitutes a noun one can't remember or can't remember the name of” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a neuter singular of éste (“this one”). With an accent, ésto is a different word: “misconstruction of éste”.

What does esto mean in English?

pronoun

  1. 1

    neuterneuter singular of éste (“this one”)

    ¿Qué es esto?

  2. 2

    Spainsubstitutes a noun one can't remember or can't remember the name of

    "Dame el esto." "¿El qué?" "El esto... el... ¿cómo se llama?"

pronoun

as ésto
  1. 1

    misconstruction of éste

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

How Spanish dictionaries define it

adverb: 1. En el momento actual.

pronoun: 1. Forma del neutro singular del pronombre y adjetivo demostrativo este₂.

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 esto

  • éste masculine proximal singular
  • ése masculine medial singular
  • aquél distal masculine singular
  • ésta feminine proximal singular
  • ésa feminine medial singular
  • aquélla distal feminine singular
  • eso medial neuter singular
  • aquello distal neuter singular
  • éstos masculine plural proximal
  • ésos masculine medial plural
  • aquéllos distal masculine plural
  • éstas feminine plural proximal
  • ésas feminine medial plural
  • aquéllas distal feminine plural

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

English words that translate to esto

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

How common is esto in Spanish?

esto appears 1,122 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).

What to look up after esto