#argot

Double-verlan of 'arabe' (via 'beur') — a French person of North African/Arab descent.

Verlan for 'mechant' (wicked) — flipped to mean awesome or sick, like English 'wicked'.

Verlan for 'enerve' (angry/annoyed) — means pissed off or worked up.

Money, cash, dough, the most common Lunfardo word for the folding stuff.

In 'laisse beton', verlan for 'laisse tomber' (drop it / forget it).

Verlan of 'arabe' — a French-born person of North African descent; named a 1980s generation.

That heavy, can't-be-bothered laziness, from the Genoese fiacca.

Verlan for 'merci' (thanks) — a casual, often cheeky way to say thank you.

Tango itself, spun through vesre: tan-go flipped into go-tan.

Fake, counterfeit or bogus, the porteno word for anything dodgy and not the real deal.

Mature content — open to view.

Smooth talk, sweet nothings or flat-out BS, depending on who's doing the talking.

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

Verlan for 'pitie' — short form 'tiep', used for something pitiful, lame, or gross.

Verlan for 'fou' (crazy) — means insane, wild, or amazing depending on context.

A total mess, a chaotic uproar, from an African word for a runaway-slave settlement.

Verlan for 'metro' — the underground/subway, a daily-life banlieue word.

A well-off, well-dressed man about town, the tango's classic flush gentleman.

Coffee, by way of vesre: cafe spun backwards into feca.

The police, or jail itself, a cornerstone of the tango underworld's vocabulary.

A petty criminal, crook or lowlife, a fixture of the tango underworld.

Clothing, your threads or good gear, with roots in a Quechua word.

A pickpocket, or the act of picking pockets, from the old porteno underworld.

Verlan for 'louche' (shady) — means sketchy, dodgy, or suspicious.

Verlan for 'frere' (brother) — used for a literal brother or, like 'bro', a close friend.

Verlan for 'flic' (cop) — the standard banlieue word for a police officer.

Verlan for 'mec' (guy/dude) — the masculine counterpart to 'meuf'.

Mature content — open to view.

Verlan for 'noir' (Black) — a Black person, often used as an in-group identity term.

The all-purpose 'hey' or 'mate' that's practically Argentina's national catchphrase.

A bachelor flat or little love-nest, immortalized in classic tango lyrics.

To eat, to chow down, with roots in French/Italian thieves' slang for the mouth.

Verlan for 'fete' (party) — the go-to word for a party or rave in French slang.

Verlan for 'femme' (woman/girl) — the standard French syllables flipped, now everyday slang.

Lunfardo for 'to work', lifted straight from Italian immigrants' lavorare.

The wife or missus, mujer flipped around by vesre into jermu.

Fool or idiot, but also the affectionate 'dude' that glues Argentine conversation together.

Verlan for 'pourri' (rotten) — specifically a corrupt cop on the take.

Verlan for 'francais' (French) — a French person or the French language.

A kid, lad or young guy, one of the warmest words in the porteno vocabulary.

Verlan for 'lourd' (heavy) — means annoying, a pain, or a drag.

Verlan for 'bizarre' (weird) — means strange, odd, or off.

Verlan for 'bete' (stupid) — means dumb or an idiot.

A con artist, bluffer or all-talk fraud, a beloved insult in porteno life.