mercado negro

[meɾˈkað̞o ˈneɣ̞ɾo]

/[meɾˈkað̞o ˈneɣ̞ɾo]/ phrase

The verdict

“mercado negro” is uncommon Spanish (outside the top frequency list), classed as a phrase. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency Spanish
13
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Transacción clandestina de divisas o de mercancías que no cumplen con las obligaciones legales, ya sea porque sean robadas, contrabando, tengan algún origen fraudulento o infrinjan alguna ley.

Corpus desk

Index ES-mercado-negro · mercado negro · Spanish

mercado negro · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
  • LEN-MEGA 13 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-THIN "M" thin
  • PHOTO-UNK Peer pending

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Key facts for mercado negro
PropertyValue
Headwordmercado negro
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechPhrase
IPA[meɾˈkað̞o ˈneɣ̞ɾo]
Letters13
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Cola larga: rango de “mercado negro” en español

mercado negroestá más allá de las 100.000 formas más frecuentes del español, en la cola de léxico especializado o poco usado donde la duda ortográfica aprieta.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

mercado negro is uncommon Spanish outside the top frequency list, classed as aphrase, transcribed [meɾˈkað̞o ˈneɣ̞ɾo]. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

mercado negro has no tracked misspelling variants, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. This entry stands alone in our confusable dataset, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct Spanish form is mercado negro, spelled M-E-R-C-A-D-O- -N-E-G-R-O.

Definition

  1. 1
    Transacción clandestina de divisas o de mercancías que no cumplen con las obligaciones legales, ya sea porque sean robadas, contrabando, tengan algún origen fraudulento o infrinjan alguna ley.
  2. 2
    Transacción clandestina de productos escasos hecha por mafias que se aprovechan de la necesidad de las personas para estafarlas.

Synonyms

bachaqueo

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "mercado negro"?
"mercado negro" is spelled M-E-R-C-A-D-O- -N-E-G-R-O. The IPA pronunciation is [meɾˈkað̞o ˈneɣ̞ɾo].
What does "mercado negro" mean?
As a phrase, "mercado negro" means: Transacción clandestina de divisas o de mercancías que no cumplen con las obligaciones legales, ya sea porque sean robadas, contrabando, tengan algún origen fraudulento o infrinjan alguna ley.
How do you pronounce "mercado negro"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "mercado negro" is [meɾˈkað̞o ˈneɣ̞ɾo]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "mercado negro" come from?
"mercado negro" is a Spanish word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list