droga

drug

noun DRROH-gah Less Common

Origin: Possibly from Dutch droog, dry (goods).

Usage Note

Droga primarily means an illicit drug in modern Spanish; the clinical term for a pharmaceutical drug is medicamento (m) or fármaco (m). Droga can therefore be a false friend for English speakers who expect it to cover all drugs — in Spanish it almost always implies a narcotic or substance of abuse. The adjective form is drogado/a (drugged) and the verb drogarse (to take drugs).

Examples

"La droga destruye muchas familias."

Natural Translation

Drugs destroy many families.

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