cuartos
KWAR-tohs — the s is usually breathed away: KWAR-tohnounColloquial
A Dominican Spanish slang term. Browse all Dominican slang.
What it means
Money, in general. The everyday Dominican word — dinero sounds like a form you are filling in, and plata belongs to other countries.
Wealth as a property of a person: 'ese tiene cuarto'' means he is well off.
Examples with translations
No tengo cuarto' hasta el quince.
I've got no money until the fifteenth.
Esa gente tiene cuarto' de verdá'.
Those people have real money.
Where it comes from
From the cuarto, a small copper coin of the old Spanish system. The word survived in the Caribbean and in parts of Spain as a generic plural for cash long after the coin itself vanished. The final /s/ is aspirated or dropped in speech, which is why it is often written cuarto'.
Other forms
- Similar terms:
- chelito', biyaya