hueso

Chavacano

Etymology

From Spanish hueso, from Old Spanish huesso, from Latin ossum, popular variant of os.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈweso/, [ˈwe.so]

Noun

hueso

1. (anatomy) bone

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish huesso, from Latin ossum, popular variant of os, ossis, from Proto-Italic *ōs, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₃ésth₁ (“bone”), *h₂óst.

Compare Catalan os, French os, Interlingua osso, Italian osso, Portuguese osso, Romanian os, Sardinian ossu.

Political sense comes from comparing a dog looking for and defending a bone and a politician searching for a position.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈw̝eso/ [ˈw̝e.so]

  • Audio:

    (file)

• IPA^(key): (dialectal) /ˈbweso/ [ˈbwe.so], /ˈɡweso/ [ˈɡwe.so]
• Rhymes: -eso
• Syllabification: hue‧so

Noun

hueso m (plural huesos)

1. (anatomy) bone

   El perro enterró un hueso.

   The dog buried a bone.

   Los adultos tienen 206 huesos.

   Adults have 206 bones.

2. (botany) stone, pit (the central part of some fruits, consisting of the seed and a hard endocarp layer (like those of peach, olive, avocado or mango))
3. (politics, Mexico, slang) political position (appointed or elected)
4. (Spain, informal) strict person

Derived terms

• a otro perro con ese hueso
• bocado sin hueso
• calado hasta los huesos
• carne sin hueso
• dar con sus huesos
• dar en hueso
• de carne y hueso
• en carne y hueso
• en los huesos
• hasta los huesos
• hueso coxal
• hueso cuboides
• hueso de la cadera
• hueso de santo
• hueso duro de roer (“tough cookie, tough nut to crack”)
• hueso frontal
• hueso grande
• hueso innominado
• hueso temporal
• la sin hueso
• perro que no camina, no encuentra hueso
• pinchar en hueso
• quebrantahuesos

 

Related terms

• huesudo
• ososo

 

Further reading

• “hueso”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28