It’s time to play with another couple of similar-looking Spanish nouns with different endings, genders and meanings and to find out how they’re most commonly used. Today’s pair are muñeco and muñeca.
Starting with the feminine muñeca, you can hear how it’s pronounced here:
La muñeca is a part of your body; it’s the area between your forearm and your hand containing a joint – your wrist in other words:
Jaime se quitó el reloj de la muñeca.
Jaime took his watch off his wrist.
Volví a ponérmelo en la muñeca.
I put it back on my wrist.
Daniel la agarró por la muñeca.
Daniel seized her by the wrist.
Common the world over, una muñeca is also a toy shaped like a human. It’s a doll, especially one that looks like a girl or a woman:
La niña estrechaba contra su pecho la muñeca de trapo.
The little girl clasped the rag doll to her chest.
una muñeca de porcelana
a porcelain doll
la casa de muñecas de Sofía
Sofía’s doll’s house
Mabel es una muñeca de trapo, con la que todavía juega.
Mabel is a rag doll with which she still plays.
In very informal language muñeca is sometimes used to refer to a pretty young woman or child. It’s used particularly as a form of address.
Pásame el vaso de agua, muñeca.
Please would you pass me the glass of water, babe?
Turning to the masculine muñeco, you can listen to how it’s pronounced here:
Un muñeco can be a toy resembling a person, particularly a male one:
Ken es el muñeco compañero de la muñeca Barbie.
Ken is the male doll who’s a companion to the female one Barbie.
un muñeco parlante
a talking doll
Un muñeco can be any of a number of different kinds of figure resembling a person:
muñecos de bailadoras flamencas y toreros
figures of flamenco dancers and bullfighters
las películas protagonizadas por muñecos de plastilina
films whose main characters are Plasticine® figures or puppets
un muñeco de cartón que representa a la ministra
a cardboard effigy of the minister
Tenía cara de muñeco de ventrílocuo.
He looked like a ventriloquist’s dummy.
un muñeco de vudú
a voodoo doll
Un muñeco de peluche (also known as un juguete de peluche or simply un peluche) is a toy shaped like an animal or fantasy creature. In this case it may translate as a stuffed, soft or fluffy toy:
los muñecos de peluche de los niños
children’s stuffed or soft or fluffy toys
un representante de muñecos de peluche
a stuffed or soft toy salesman
QUIZ TIME
As we’ve seen, la muñeca can be a part of your body, your wrist. In the following, what words for body parts can you find?
Sufrió una caída que le ocasionó una fractura del dedo meñique de la mano izquierda.
Para decir dinero Pablo se frotaba las yemas del índice y del pulgar, uno contra el otro.
La palma de la mano le dolía horriblemente.
Se cortó y se pulió las uñas.
Estaba tratando de mover el dedo gordo del pie derecho.
ANSWERS
Sufrió una caída que le ocasionó una fractura del dedo meñique de la mano izquierda.
He had a fall which caused him to fracture the little finger of his left hand.
Para decir dinero Pablo se frotaba las yemas del índice y del pulgar, uno contra el otro.
To indicate money, Pablo was rubbing the pads of his forefinger or index finger and his thumb against one another.
La palma de la mano le dolía horriblemente.
The palm of her hand hurt horribly.
Se cortó y se pulió las uñas.
He cut and polished his nails.
Estaba tratando de mover el dedo gordo del pie derecho.
She was trying to move the big toe of her right foot.
The above examples may serve as a useful reminder that Spanish tends to use the definite article with parts of the body where in English we’d use the possessive.
Join us next week as we toy with some more similar-looking Spanish nouns that are used differently:
https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/language-learners/learning-spanish
