guayabo

What it means

1. 1.

   A hangover. The single most useful Colombian word for a visitor, because resaca — the word learners are taught — is not what anyone here says.

2. 2.

   Extended to emotional aftermath: guayabo moral is the flat, guilty feeling after a bad night, and guayabo amoroso is heartbreak.

Literally: Guava tree.

Examples with translations

• Tengo un guayabo tenaz.

  I've got a stinking hangover.

• El domingo amanecí enguayabado.

  I woke up hungover on Sunday.

• Le quedó un guayabo moral por lo que dijo.

  He's got a moral hangover over what he said.

  Note: No alcohol required — just regret.

Where it comes from

From guayabo, the guava tree. The older Colombian sense is 'longing, nostalgia' — the melancholy of remembering — and the drink-related meaning grew out of that rather than the other way round. The explanations involving eating unripe guavas are after-the-fact inventions.

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

enguayabado, guayabo moral

Similar terms:

ratón, resaca