horniness?

Question

Estoy trabajando en una traducción de un manual de ayuda para adictos al sexo. ¿Cómo se diría en castellano "horniness" (o "horny")? ¿Hay una palabra más técnica o clínica (más profesional - que no sea "slang") que "(estar) caliente"?

Gracias,
Criss.

Answer 1

Caliente fits the bill and so does cachondo in mexico I believe.

Answer 2

que tengan muchas ganas de sexo...

no se pero es como lo traduciria

Answer 3

Your question doesn't really make sense. You are asking for a clinical term that is a translation of a very slang word in English.

Cachondo, as Eddy says, is very close to horny (it literally means in rut), but it is also understood in Spain, I believe. As for a more clinical term, the English would be sexually aroused, which in Spanish would be sexualmente exitado/a.

Answer 4

Oops, I just noticed that I mistyped a word:

exitado -> excitado

My fingers must have been thinking about éxito...

Answer 5

BTW, if I remember correctly, the word cachondo changes considerably when used with ser and estar.

Estar cachondo = To be horny
Ser cachondo = To have a good sense of humor

I just checked my dictionary, and sure enough, it gives:
una película muy cachonda; a very amusing movie

Answer 6

US-English slang can be understood by most English speakers, because US-English tends to dominate movies and Internet (the US is like the Borg... you will assimilate, resistance is futile). Spanish slang tends to be more localized, in many cases varying greatly by country - I was looking for a more "universal" term, that would work for most Spanish speakers.

"Horny" is a slang term, but it's become mainstream enough to be in dictionaries. "Cachondo" does not enjoy that luxury. Oddly enough, my Larousse (which has a Mexican flag on the cover and was published in 2007) gives me "cachondo" and "caliente" when I look up "horny," but when I look up "cachondo" it translates the word as "funny" or "randy" (which, in my opinion, is not the same as "horny").

I personally would rather not use "cachondo" because when I visited Spain, cachondo was a drink made with 1/2 Coca-Cola and 1/2 red wine; in Chile, at least back in the days when I was growing up (and I'm sure the slang has changed since then), cachondo was a word kids used to talk about something really cool. Although the original English term is slangish, this is why I would rather use a more technical/clinical translation; however, I see your point about the contradiction. Perhaps I should have asked for a more "universal" translation.

The use in question is in the Twelve Step axiom, "Horniness equals loneliness." At the moment I've translated it as, "Estar caliente equivale a estar desamparado" (and I know "desamparado" is probably a stronger word than I need, but I don't feel "solo" is strong enough; it doesn't convey the intended meaning).

Thanks for the input so far, and I'll take any other thoughts/comments/suggestions!

Gracias,
Criss.

Answer 7

Answer 8

hmmm, no se me ocurren muchas palabras "elegantes"

excitado

salido

libidinoso

lujurioso

Yo creo que salido es el término más adecuado...pero no sé si se entiende en otras partes, es una palabra muy usada en España, desde luego, igual de "vulgar" que horny, pero al menos su "aspecto" es mejor que cachondo, además de no poder confundirlo con cachondo: divertido.

Answer 9

Horny también puede usarse referido a sustancias o pieles duras como un cuerno. El contexto es lo que determina si estás hablando de asperezas o de apetito sexual, y lo mismo ocurre con cachondo.

La palabra cachondo tiene varios significados, entre los cuales está el de divertido, ya que la palabra viene del latín y significaba originalmente cachorro. Pero el significado de "divertido" es más moderno, porque en el siglo XIX "cachondo" solo significaba dominado por el apetito sexual, y se usaba casi solo para las perras en celo. My Collins says:

cachondo 2 (=persona) randy ' , horny '
horny 2 '' (=randy) caliente ' , cachondo (Sp, Mex) '

La palabra "salido", que el DRAE define como que experimenta con urgencia el apetito sexual aplicado a personas, o que está en celo con animales, es muy común en España, y en principio parece corresponderse bastante bien con horny, como bien dice Heidi. Mi Collins dice:

salido 2 (Esp) ' (=cachondo) randy ' , horny '

España, México, pero no hay mención de otros países. A menos que uses "lujuria" o "lascivia" para "horniness", pero dudo que quieras usar esas palabras.