noun General Slang

Mina

/ˈmina/ · noun · slang

Lunfardo for a woman or girlfriend, one of the most tango-soaked words in the porteno argot.

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Definitions

1

By extension, used affectionately or possessively for a partner, the way English uses 'my girl'.

“Voy al cine con mi mina. (I'm going to the movies with my girl.)”
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2

In classic tango lyrics, the archetypal beloved or the woman who leaves the singer heartbroken in the arrabal (slum outskirts).

“The tango told of a mina who fled the conventillo for the bright lights downtown.”
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3

A woman, especially a young woman or a man's girlfriend. The source word is the Lunfardo noun 'mina', whose literal meaning is debated but traces to either Italian 'mina' (slang for a kept woman) or the idea of a 'mine' to be exploited; in everyday Rio de la Plata speech it simply means 'gal' or 'chick'.

“Esa mina baila el tango como nadie. (That woman dances tango like no one else.)”
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Mina In A Sentence

Che, quien es esa mina? (Hey, who's that woman?)
He kept calling his fiancee 'mi mina' all night, very old-school Buenos Aires.
In Gardel's recordings the word mina drips with longing and loss.

Origin & Usage

Documented Lunfardo from the late 1800s Buenos Aires immigrant slums and codified by the Academia Portena del Lunfardo; the exact etymology (Italian 'femmina'/'mina' vs. the mining metaphor) is genuinely disputed and the Academia treats it as unresolved.

Variants minitaminusa
Tags #lunfardo#spanish#argentine#tango#argot#people

People Also Ask

What does mina mean in Lunfardo?

It means a woman or a man's girlfriend, roughly 'gal' or 'chick' in English.

Is mina rude?

It's informal and very common in Argentina and Uruguay; context decides whether it lands as casual or slightly objectifying.

Where did mina come from?

From the immigrant argot of late-1800s Buenos Aires; its precise root is disputed between Italian slang and a mining metaphor.

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