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bagre

catfish

noun BAH-greh Rare

Origin: Origin uncertain; possibly from a pre-Columbian Caribbean language.

Usage Note

Bagre is the common name for catfish across Latin America, referring to various freshwater catfish species found in rivers from Mexico to Patagonia. In Argentina and Uruguay it is also used as a colloquial insult for an ugly person. The word has no standard European Spanish equivalent — Spaniards would say pez gato or name the specific species.

Examples

"Pescamos varios bagres en el río."

Natural Translation

We caught several catfish in the river.

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