chido

What it means

1. 1.

   Cool, great, excellent. The default all-purpose compliment in Mexican Spanish, applied to objects, plans, people and situations alike.

2. 2.

   Of a person: decent, generous, a good sort. In this sense it is closer to 'kind' than to 'cool'.

   Usually with ser: es muy chido conmigo — he's really good to me.

Examples with translations

• ¡Qué chido está tu carro!

  Your car is so cool!

• El concierto estuvo bien chido, deberías haber venido.

  The concert was really great, you should have come.

• Mi jefe es bien chido, me dejó salir temprano.

  My boss is a really good guy, he let me leave early.

  Note: The 'generous' sense — nothing to do with being fashionable.

Where it comes from

Most often traced to Caló, the language of the Spanish Roma, where chidó meant 'excellent' or 'splendid'. It entered Mexican Spanish through urban working-class speech and had spread nationwide by the 1970s.

First attested: mid-20th century

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

chida, chidito

Similar terms:

padre, chingón, de pelos