Category: Chamorro Vocabulary

In this post, we will take a look at some useful words you can learn to describe the food you eat in Chamorro. Maybe you’re eating a meal and you want to compliment and describe how some of the food tastes. The following are some basic adjectives we use to describe flavors.

In English, 5 basic tastes we use daily to describe food are: Sweet, Spicy, Bitter, Sour and Salty.

Here’s how to say and use each of these words in Chamorro:

mames

The Chamorro word mames is used describe something “sweet.” You can use this word to describe fruits or desserts.

Mames i kek.
The cake is sweet.

pika

Pika is the Chamorro word used to describe something “spicy.” You can use this word to say that your fina’denne’ is too spicy, because you added too many chili peppers. If you’re not into spicy, you may want to stay from the Chamorro dish kaddon pika.

Kåo pika i karí?
Is the curry spicy?

Ya-ña si Guadalupe pika na kelaguen.
Guadalupe likes spicy kelaguen.

mala’et

Mala’et is how you say “bitter” in Chamorro. You use it to describe your coffee or maybe certain vegetables.

Ti ya-ña si Lucio mala’et na nengkanno’.
Lucio does not like bitter food.

ma’aksom

Ma’aksom is the Chamorro word for anything that’s “sour” or “tangy.” You may use this to describe citrus fruits or pickled foods.

Ti ma’aksom i fina’denne’-ña.
Her fina’denne’ is not sour.

ma’asen

Ma’asen is the Chamorro word for “salty.”

Bula mampos na asiga un na’yi, sa’ gof ma’asen pa’go.
You’ve added too much salt, because it is very salty now.

Ma’asen i hanom tåsi.
Seawater is salty.

Other Useful Adjectives to Describe Food

Here are more useful words you can use to describe how food tastes, smells, feels and more!

månnge’ – delicious

matå’pang – bland, tasteless

paopao – fragrant

mutong – smelly, stinky

maipe – hot

manengheng – cold

ånglo’ – dry

fotgon – wet

fresko – fresh

“Beautiful” in Chamorro

When saying that someone is beautiful, you would say bunita for females and bunitu for males.

bunita
beautiful, pretty, lovely

bunitu
handsome

NOTE: The word bunitu , from Spanish bonito, is often used as a general term to describe things as beautiful or pretty. When saying that a performance or movie was great or nice, it is often referred to as being bunitu. Chamorro musician K.C. DeLeon Guerrero’s sings how the day is beautiful in his song Bonito na Ha’ane.

Usage examples:

Bunita na palao’an si Maria.
Maria is a beautiful lady.

Bunitu na movie i Braveheart.
Braveheart is a good movie.

Bunitu magagu-ña si Denise.
Denise has pretty clothes.

“You’re beautiful” in Chamorro

Bunita hao.
You are pretty.

Bunita hao na palao’an.
You’re a pretty woman.

Bunita si Maria.
Maria is pretty.

Gof bunita hao.
You’re very pretty.

Na buninita hao.
You’re so pretty.

When describing places or settings, you can also use  gefpå’go, which means the same thing as bunitu. The word itself tends to be used to describe places and things.

Gefpå’go na tåno’ iya Sweden.
Sweden is such a beautiful land.

Ya-hu iya Hawaii, sa’ gefpå’go na lugat.
I like Hawaii, because it is a beautiful place.

Gefpå’go mampos i tinige’-ña si Dolores.
Dolores’s writing is too beautiful.

Gefpå’go na lugåt iya Hawaii.
Hawaii is a beautiful place.

The word atånon means good-looking or attractive. The word is rooted in the word atan, meaning “to look”, and the suffix -on, meaning “to be capable of”. So literally, the word atånon means “capable of being looked at”, implying that something or someone is “pleasing to the eye.”

Atånon na taotao si Juan.
Juan is a good-looking man.