Grifo or Canilla?

Question

To say tap (faucet), is it more usual to use el grifo rather than la canilla? Or are they used equally?

By the way, we say mixer-tap in Britain, do you say "mixer-faucet" in the States? A mixer-tap is where the hot and cold water come out of the same spout "blended". how do you say it in Spanish?

Answer 1

I recently installed a kitchen faucet. The package was labeled "el grifo". I have never heard of "la canilla", but it has a definition of being a "tap" for water.

The faucet I installed had a single discharge tube, so hot and cold water was delivered through a single tube.

Hope that helps!

I just found "grifo monomando" in the dictionary as a "mixer tap".

Thanks for the finding "grifo monomando". A single-control tap, how appropriate. - Pibosan, Nov 30, 2010

Answer 2

Canilla is only used in some countries in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay).

Answer 3

In Peru we say "caño" for the tap on a sink, and a "grifo" is a petrol station.

I love finding out about all these differences in Spanish!

I agree, it is interesting but it's also hard for us learners...!! - Pibosan, Nov 30, 2010

Answer 4

Thank you all for your replies. Very useful and interesting.

Answer 5

So would both the 2nd and 3rd picture be a mixer-tap in Britian?

sink with separate hot and cold water faucets

bathtube faucet with 2 handles, but one spigot

faucet with one handle, one spigot

Yes, pictures 2 and 3 will be called mixer taps. - Pibosan, Nov 30, 2010

Answer 6

I interact with a lot of people from Latin American countries and they all say grifo. As for what we call a "mixer tap" in America, there is not a word (at least, not to my knowledge). We are referring to water from the "faucet" we call it "tap water", but we don't call the tap anything other than a faucet (That doesn't make sense, I know). When we say "tap", we are usually referring to a beer tap.

Answer 7

I guess this is a local thing. In Argentina we use "canilla". We also know the word "grifo", but using it would sound really odd to us.

Answer 8

I've always heard grifo (basically Mexican Spanish). Here in the U.S. we usually just call it a faucet, though we do say "tap water" as opposed to bottled water. We call the valve that mixes the hot and cold water a mixer valve, like for a bathtub or shower, but the faucet is still a faucet, whether the water is blended or not.