Our task today is to cut through the meanings of two more similar-looking Spanish nouns with different genders, endings and usage: these are cuchillo (masculine) and cuchilla (feminine).
You can listen to the pronunciation of cuchillo here:
Whenever you eat a meal you’re likely to have access to at least one cuchillo (masculine) along with your tenedor (fork) and cuchara (spoon) because un cuchillo is that handled utensil with one cutting edge called a knife in English:
Celia solía afilar los cuchillos.
Celia used to sharpen the knives.
Mientras masticaba, dejaba el tenedor y el cuchillo en los bordes del plato.
While he was chewing, he would leave his knife and fork on the edges of the plate.
Sacó el cuchillo y rasgó el cuadro de arriba abajo.
He got out the knife and scored the painting from top to bottom.
You can listen to the pronunciation of cuchilla here:
Una cuchilla is also used for cutting and may refer to the cutting part of a knife or of a piece of machinery. In these cases it is likely to translate as a blade:
Un milagro hizo que la cuchilla no le afectara ningún órgano vital.
Miraculously the blade missed all his vital organs.
Usa una cuchilla nueva, muy afilada, para recortar.
Use a new, very sharp blade to do the cutting out.
cuchillas de recambio
replacement blades
Some cuchillas have a handle and a broad blade and are used for heavy-duty cutting or chopping. In fact una cuchilla might be a cleaver or a craft knife, depending on the context:
una cuchilla de carnicero a butcher’s cleaver
Necesitaremos las siguientes herramientas: cuchilla, tijeras, regla.
We’ll need the following tools: a craft knife, scissors, ruler.
Una cuchilla de afeitar, sometimes shortened to una cuchilla, is a razor blade:
La maquinilla eléctrica, la cuchilla y la crema depiladora son tres métodos que acaban con el vello.
The electric razor, the razor blade and depilatory cream are three ways to get rid of hair.
PUZZLE TIME
Q: From its shape, what landscape feature might be called una cuchilla, do you think?
A: A craggy mountain ridge
Join us again next week as we continue slicing through the different meanings of similar-looking Spanish nouns.
