Today's
WOTD is: "caballo" = horse
In
Spanish, the noun "caballo" is a masculine
noun of Latin origin which means a male horse. In Spanish the female of the species (a mare) is a “yegua”.
The
Spanish noun “caballo” may also be used to refer to:
- A chess piece, known in English as the knight;
- A card from a Spanish pack/ deck of cards or “baraja”. That card, “el caballo” roughly corresponds to the queen in the Anglo-American-French deck.
Related
Spanish words are:
- The masculine noun “caballero” the original meaning of which was knight (on horseback). Nowadays it's more common use is with meaning of gentleman.
- The feminine noun “caballería”, the meaning of which is cavalry/ horse (male or female).
False
Friends (Falsos Amigos)
Please note that the Spanish feminine noun 'caballa' means mackerel.
Some
commonly used expressions containing the words "caballo"
are:
- A caballo regalado, no le mires el diente (don't look a gift horse in the mouth);
- A caballo entre (half way between two choices);
- A mata caballo (at breakneck speed);
- A matacaballo (at breakneck speed);
- Andar a caballo (to ride a horse/ to go on horseback);
- Caballo albardón (packhorse);
- Caballo de albarda (packhorse);
- Caballo de agua (seahorse);
- Caballo de batalla (someones 'forte' – what he/ she excels at);
- Caballo de batalla (a recurring theme/ issue in controversial topic);
- Caballo de buena boca (good eater - person);
- Caballo de carga (packhorse);
- Caballo de carrera (racehorse);
- Caballo de carreras (racehorse);
- Caballo de fuerza (horsepower – British/ Imperial unit of power);
- Caballo de silla (riding horse);
- Caballo de tiro (carthorse);
- Caballo de Troya (Trojan horse);
- Caballo de vapor (horsepower – metric unit of power);
- Caballo del diablo (dragonfly);
- Caballito* del diablo (dragonfly);
- Caballo marino (hippopotamus);
- Caballo marino (seahorse);
- Cola de caballo (ponytail);
- Como caballo desbocado (like a bat out of hell);
- Ir a caballo (to ride a horse/ to go on horseback);
- Llevar a alguien a caballo (to give someone a piggyback);
- Montar a caballo (to get on horseback/ to ride a horse);
- Subir a caballo (to get on horseback/ to ride a horse);
- Un paseo a caballo (a ride on horseback);
*NB
“caballito” is a diminutive form of “caballo”
Some
examples of the use of the word "caballo"
are:
- En cuanto a música, estoy a caballo entre el pop y el rock (as far as music is concerned, my tastes are somewhere in between pop and rock);
- Hicimos el viaje a mata caballo (we did the journey at breakneck speed);
- Hicimos el viaje a matacaballo (we did the journey at breakneck speed);
- Andamos a caballo muy a menudo (we ride a horse very often);
- Por la mañana, solíamos ir a caballo al mercado (in the morning, we used to go to market on horseback);
- ¿Vamos a montar a caballo? (shall we go horseriding?);
- La Macarena es el caballo de batalla de Los del Río ('La Macarena' is what 'Los del Río' are famous for);
- El recorte del gasto público es el caballo de batalla de los gobiernos (cuts in public spending is a recurring issue for governments);
- Ese tipo es caballo de buena boca (that guy can certainly eat);
- Te queda muy bien la cola de caballo (you suit that ponytail);
- Salimos de aquel pueblo como caballos desbocados (we left that town like bats out of hell);
For
more on the word "caballo",
visit:
Wordreference.com/es/en/ Caballo
*NB
'Click' on the speaker icon next to the word “caballo”
in the link to hear the word pronounced.
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