Spanish word of the week: imagen

This week’s Spanish word of the week is imagen.

Imagen is a noun that means image or picture. You can listen to the pronunciation of imagen in the audio clip below:

Imagen has very much the same range of application as its English cousin image.

It can be used literally to refer to a physical image or picture:

Esas imágenes no pueden dejarnos indiferentes. Those images cannot fail to move us.

And as all designers and presenters know:

Una imagen vale más que mil palabras. A picture is worth a thousand words.

(Remember that in Spanish the phrase is, word for word, ‘more than a thousand words’.)

Like English, imagen can refer by extension to the mental image or picture you have of someone:

Me formé una imagen mental de cómo era. I formed a mental picture of what he looked like. 

Esto va a perjudicar más la imagen del país. This will further damage the country’s image. 

Imagen can also refer to the physical reflection of something, as in a mirror:

Contemplaba su imagen en el espejo. He was studying his reflection in the mirror.

There are also two useful idioms you can use imagen in:

ser la viva imagen de alguien to be the spitting image of somebody
Es la viva imagen de su padre. He’s the spitting image of his father.

a su imagen y semejanza in his/her own image
Ha confeccionado un equipo a su imagen y semejanza. She’s put together a team in her own image.

We hope to see you again the week for another word!