Skip to content

apetito

appetite

noun ah-peh-TEE-toh Rare

Origin: From Latin appetitus, from appetere (to desire).

Also means

desire

Usage Note

Apetito refers to hunger (abrir el apetito, to whet one's appetite) and, figuratively, any strong desire (apetito de poder, appetite for power). The common exclamation ¡Buen provecho! (bon appétit) is used at the table rather than the calque ¡Buen apetito!, though both are understood. The adjective apetitoso/a means appetizing.

Examples

"El ejercicio me abrió el apetito."

Natural Translation

The exercise whetted my appetite.

Free starter pack

Building your Spanish vocabulary?

Get the 100 most common Spanish words as a free PDF — one email, no spam.

Explore Spanish by topic