Why is it graciosa?
When I hear graciosa I think of graceful. Yet they're saying it means funny? I don't get that. It doesn't seem to make sense to me.
3 Answers
Hi Hisbookworm
When I hear graciosa I think of graceful. Yet they're saying it means funny? I don't get that. It doesn't seem to make sense to me.
Don't feel bad. With so many words that sound and mean the same thing in both languages, it is easy to be swayed into thinking that every time you hear a word that sounds similar to an English word you will be able to assign it the same meaning as the English word. Unfortunately, this is just not so. When learning Spanish, it is important that you recognize that there are two types of words that will have similar spelling in English/Spanish.
Words that are spelled similarly and have the same meaning in both languages are termed cognates. These are usually fairly easy to remember.
abnormal - abnormal
absurdo - absurd
autor-author
patio - patio
Words that are spelled similarly yet have different meanings between the two languages are called false cognates, and these are a little trickier to remember. As Heidita mentioned above, these are also called "false friends" and for obvious reasons.
actualmente - at present (does not mean actually)
chocar - to crash (does not mean to choke)
éxito - success (does not mean exit)
sensible - sensitive
Besides the links that I have already provided, here is one more that links to a much more comprehensive list of these falsos amigos.
Hi hisbook, it also means this:
gracioso, sa. (Del lat. grati?sus). 1. adj. Que resulta agradable o atractivo a la vista.
But I must admit it is not used like this. We use it meaning funny.
This can be considered a false friend as it is a very similar word to the English one but has a different meaning.
"Graciosa" is a person full of grace. We would also say: "simpática". A funny person would be: "chistosa", "divertida"
