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barajar

to shuffle

verb bah-rah-HAHR Rare
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Origin: From baraja (deck of cards) + '-ar'.

Also means

to consider (options)

Usage Note

Barajar literally means to shuffle a deck of cards, but in everyday Spanish it very commonly means to consider or weigh up a set of options: se barajan varias hipótesis (several hypotheses are being considered). This figurative sense appears constantly in journalism and political discourse. The origin of baraja is uncertain, though often traced to Hispanic Arabic.

Examples

"Se barajan varias opciones para resolver el conflicto."

Natural Translation

Several options are being considered to resolve the conflict.

Literal Translation

Several options are-being-shuffled to resolve the conflict.

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