Spanish word of the week: ligero

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

Ligero is an adjective that means light, lightweight; slight. To hear how ligero is pronounced, you can click the icon below.

function playAudio(url) { new Audio(url).play(); }

Ligero covers several of the same meanings as English light. It refers to things that don’t weigh very much:

fibra de carbono y otros materiales ligeros carbon fibre and other lightweight materials
una blusa ligerita a light(weight) blouse

It describes things which are light in weight in a non-literal sense:

la industria ligera light industry
la artillería ligera light artillery

It denotes artistic things which are light, that is, not profound or serious:

una comedia ligera a light comedy
música ligera light music

And it describes meals which are simple and healthy:

No tengo mucha hambre. Me apetece algo ligero. I’m not very hungry. I fancy something light.

Another of its frequent meanings describes things which are small in degree, or slight, such as increases, decreases, improvements, and the like:

una ligera subida de precios a slight price rise
Se ha producido una ligera recuperación de las ventas. There’s been a slight recovery in sales.

It also refers to breezes, noises, smells and pains which are slight:

Soplaba una brisa ligera. A slight breeze was blowing.
El más ligero ruido la despierta. She wakes at the slightest noise.
un ligero olor a lavanda a slight scent of lavender
un ligero dolor de cabeza a slight headache

Come back next week to learn a new word!

Other Articles

Spanish words of the week: suelo or suela?

This week we look at the masculine 'suelo' and feminine 'suela', which mean very different things Read More

Spanish words of the week: peso or pesa?

We look at another pair of Spanish nouns whose meanings differ depending on whether they are masculine or feminine; 'peso' and 'pesa'. Read More

Spanish words of the week: cubierta or cubierto?

Continuing with our pairs of Spanish nouns whose meanings can be completely different depending on whether they are masculine or feminine, we move on to 'cubierto' and 'cubierta'. Read More