hombre vs varón

Question

When do you use "varón". I was reading something where it was used to refer to men singing in a choir. Doesn't seem to be widely used.

Answer 1

Varón is a commonly used word in Spanish. When we talk about our children we often talk about having "cuatro hijos, tres varones y una mujer". In other words, we use "varón" to clear up any ambiguity, since it refers exclusively to males.

"Hombres" can also be used the same way, but it refers to humans only.

With livestock we talk about "macho" and "hembra".