If you are studying in a Spanish school in Spain you might have asked yourself some time, ¿how many words does the Spanish language hold? The dictionary from the Real Academy of Spanish Language has a total of 88.000, although the historical dictionary reaches 150.000 words.
Many of the words that appear in these dictionaries have many meanings (depending on the sentence or context) but none has as many as the word cojones. It is one of the most used by Spanish citizens and one of the most versatile of the entire vocabulary.
Its meaning according to the RAE dictionary is testicles, which are the glandular organs that form the most important part of the male reproductive system. But if you are in Spain studying in a Spanish school you will hear the word cojones very often, since its meaning may vary depending on the sentence and the context in which it is used.
The tense of the verb modifies the sense of the sentence where it figures. Here it means indifference or trouble (tanto estudiar me toca los cojones), the reflexive form shows laziness (mi compañero está todo el día tocándose los cojones) and the imperative shows surprise or threat (eso es, tócate los cojones).
It also changes when it is followed by a numeral. One means expensive (el libro valía un cojón), two courage (para hacer eso hay que tener dos cojones) and three despise (lo que tú digas me importa tres cojones).
Prepositions tone the expression down: with “de” it means success (el examen de la escuela de español me salió de cojones) or quantity (cuando salimos a la calle hacía un frío de cojones), with “por” it expresses a voluntary nature (me aprendo todos los temas por cojones), with “hasta” it expresses a limit of patience (estoy hasta los cojones de esperar tanto), with “con” it indicates value (el chico que conocí ayer, era un tío con cojones) and with “sin” cowardice (era un tío sin cojones).
Suffixes and prefixes also modify its meaning: with “a” it expresses fear (estoy acojonado), with “des” laughter (mis compañeros no paran de desconojonarse), with “udo” perfection (el examen me ha salido cojonudo) and with “azo” laziness.
The colour, form or shape bring more variants. Violet expresses cold, shape can express laziness (tenía los cojones cuadrados), while wear implies experience (tenía los cojones pelados de repetirlo).
Now you know some of the meanings of the word cojones, you can therefore use it during your stay to study in a Spanish school in Spain. But if you’d like to know all of its possible uses, don’t miss out on the video that comes with this post.