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una de cal y otra de arena

Spanish, noun/ˌuna de ˌkal i ˌotɾa de aˈɾena/

una de cal y otra de arena is a Spanish feminine noun meaning “an alternation of two opposite things, for example hot and cold, good cop bad cop, zigzag, up and down, happy one minute and sad the next” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

What does una de cal y otra de arena mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    femininean alternation of two opposite things, for example hot and cold, good cop bad cop, zigzag, up and down, happy one minute and sad the next

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

How do you pronounce una de cal y otra de arena?

  • /ˌuna de ˌkal i ˌotɾa de aˈɾena/
  • [ˌu.na ð̞e ˌkal i ˌo.t̪ɾa ð̞e aˈɾe.na]

Sources: English Wiktionary, Spanish Wiktionary (Wikcionario) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.