jotear
Spanish, verb/xoteˈaɾ/
jotear is spelled J-O-T-E-A-R (6 letters) and appears about once in every 74 million words in written Spanish, the 298,369th most frequent Spanish word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Jotear is a Spanish verb meaning “to flirt with or woo someone, often with the intent of making a sexual conquest” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) defines it as “Cortejar, rondar en torno a alguien con el fin de conquistarlo”.
What does jotear mean in English?
verb
- 1
colloquialto flirt with or woo someone, often with the intent of making a sexual conquest
- 2
Mexicocolloquial(being a man) to flirt with another man, usually as a joke without any intention of having sexual intercourse
Source: English Wiktionary, Spanish section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Spanish dictionaries define it
verb: 1. Cortejar, rondar en torno a alguien con el fin de conquistarlo. 2. Beber jote.
verb: 1. Realizar alguien actividades de forma afeminada o que podrían denotar homosexualidad. El origen de la palabra surgió en la Ciudad de México, debido a que los reos de la cárcel de Lecumberri, con costumbres homosexuales, eran encerrados en la celda J (jota) como un símbolo de segregación respecto a los demás reos del penal. 2. Sacarle la vuelta a las cosas.
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 jotear
- joteo first-person present singular
- joteé first-person preterite singular
- joteado participle past
- joteando gerund
- joteada feminine participle past
- joteados masculine participle past
- joteadas feminine participle past
- joteas indicative informal present
- joteás indicative informal present
- jotea indicative present singular
- joteamos first-person indicative plural
- joteáis indicative plural present
- jotean indicative plural present
- joteaba first-person imperfect indicative
- joteabas imperfect indicative second-person
- joteábamos first-person imperfect indicative
- joteabais imperfect indicative plural
- joteaban imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce jotear?
- /xoteˈaɾ/
- [xo.t̪eˈaɾ]
- [xot̪eˈaɾ]
Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to jotear
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is jotear in Spanish?
jotear appears about once in every 74 million words in written Spanish.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).