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Quick Answer
Apachurrado means feeling down or deflated in Mexican Spanish. Apachurrar is to squash something flat, so the word describes a person who looks the way a squashed thing looks. It is gentle and temporary rather than clinical, and agüitado is its everyday twin.
- Apachurrado means down, deflated, low - the mood, not the diagnosis.
- Apachurrar means to squash something flat, so the word is literally squashed.
- It is gentle and temporary. Agüitado means the same thing, and apapachar - one syllable away - is the opposite.
What it means
Somebody has gone flat. Not crying, not in crisis - quieter than usual, moving slowly, saying less. Apachurrado is the word for exactly that and no more.
The size of it is the point. Mexican Spanish has heavier words available and this is not one of them, so calling a friend apachurrado registers that you noticed without turning it into something they have to respond to.
What apachurrado is actually doing
- The feeling · how much of the word it is
- Quietly low36%The default. Somebody has gone flat and slow, and this is the word for it before anybody uses a bigger one.
- Concern for somebody else29%Te veo apachurrado. Small enough that they can wave it off, which is why it works as an opener.
- Knocked back by one thing21%Me apachurré con la noticia, though me agüité con is the more usual filler for that slot. Naming a cause is often easier than naming the feeling.
- Affectionate worry14%Used about children and pets, which is the clearest guide to how gentle the word is.
Literal meaning
Apachurrar is to squash, crush or flatten - a box, a bug, a bag of bread at the bottom of the shopping. Apachurrado is the past participle doing what past participles do, so a person described this way is being pictured as something that has been pressed down.
It is worth keeping the physical sense in view, because it is still in daily use. No apachurres el pastel is a real sentence somebody will say to you, and nothing about it is emotional.
The one every chilango meets first is bodies rather than boxes. Vine bien apachurrado en el metro is Línea 1 at eight in the morning, and venimos apachurrados is said in any crowded space. Same word, no mood involved.
How Mexicans use it
It arrives most often as an observation rather than a confession. Te veo apachurrado, ¿todo bien? is how somebody opens the conversation, and it works because it is small enough to be waved off.
The reflexive turns it into something that happened: me apachurré con la noticia. That frames the mood as a reaction to a specific thing, which is often easier to say than I feel bad.
In chat it shows up bare, usually as an answer to how are you, and usually with an emoji doing the softening. Ando apachurrado 🫠 is a complete message, and the reply is normally a question rather than advice.
Parents use it about children and owners use it about pets, which tells you the register better than any explanation - it is a word for something you want to look after, not something you want to fix.
How tone changes apachurrado
- flatAndo apachurrado.I'm feeling low.
- strongerAnda bien apachurrada, la verdad.She's really down, honestly.
- checking inTe veo apachurrado, ¿todo bien?You look down, everything okay?
- crowdedVine bien apachurrado en el metro.I got completely crushed on the metro.
Examples
- Ando apachurrado, no sé ni por qué.I'm feeling low, I don't even know why.
- Te veo apachurrada, ¿todo bien?You look down, everything okay?
- Me apachurré con la noticia.The news knocked the wind out of me.
- Anda bien apachurrado desde que se le murió el perro.He's been really down since his dog died.
- Vine bien apachurrado en el metro.I got crushed on the metro.
What do you say back to apachurrado?
- ¿Qué pasó?What happened?A question beats advice almost every time here
- ¿Quieres contarme o quieres que te deje en paz?Want to talk, or want me to leave you alone?Offering both, which is the kindest version
- ¿Te doy un apapacho?Want a hug?Both the literal answer and the joke
- Ya somos dos.That makes two of us.When it is true, which in a rainy September it often is
How people type apachurrado
ando apachurrado 🫠The emoji does the softening. Without it the two words can read heavier than intended.apachurradaAgrees normally with the speaker, unlike some Mexican fixed phrases. A woman says apachurrada.apachurraditoThe diminutive makes it affectionate. Mostly used about somebody else, and often about a pet.
Mini dialogues
Checking in
About somebody else
The literal one
Common mistake
Saying apapachado when you mean apachurrado. They differ by one syllable and by everything else: apapachado is being held and comforted, apachurrado is being flattened. Ando apapachado means somebody is looking after you.
Reaching for deprimido as a translation. Depressed is a claim about a condition; apachurrado is a description of an afternoon. Using the heavy word where Mexicans use the light one lands strangely, and it makes a small check-in into a large one.
Don't sound gringo
apachurrado is deliberately small. it is not depressed and does not claim to be - it is for somebody who has gone quiet.
Learn apachurrar and apapachar together: one squashes, the other holds somebody, and un apapacho is the standard answer to a friend who is apachurrado.
Then learn agüitado, which means the same thing and gives you no te agüites - the set phrase apachurrado does not have.
The register is the point. It lets you say somebody has gone quiet without turning it into a conversation about mental health.
Where you'll hear it
- A friend under a blanket in Del Valle with a cold cup of tea and a laptop she stopped watching an hour ago
- Somebody who has replied to three messages with a thumbs up and nothing else
- The third grey week of a rainy season, and everybody at the office is a bit of it
- A dog that has been at the vet, described by its owner in exactly this word
FAQ
What does apachurrado mean?
Down, deflated, feeling low. Apachurrar means to squash something flat, so the word describes a person who has gone flat.
What is the difference between apachurrado and apapachado?
One syllable and the entire meaning. Apachurrado is squashed and low. Apapachado is being held and comforted. An apapacho is the standard answer to somebody who is apachurrado.
Is apachurrado the same as depressed?
No, and the difference matters. Deprimido is clinical and heavy. Apachurrado is a mood that will probably pass by Thursday, which is why Mexicans use it far more often.
Is agüitado the same as apachurrado?
Yes, essentially. Both mean down and both are gentle. Bajoneado is a third option. They swap into almost any sentence without changing anything.
Can apachurrado mean physically squashed?
Yes, and in CDMX that is where you will meet it first. Vine bien apachurrado en el metro means you got crushed in the crowd - no mood involved at all.
How do you say I'm feeling down in Mexican Spanish?
Ando apachurrado, or ando agüitado. Adding bien makes it stronger - ando bien apachurrado - and adding a reason with me apachurré con makes it about a specific thing.
Can apachurrar be used literally?
Yes, constantly. No apachurres el pan, se apachurró la caja. The physical sense never went anywhere; the mood sense is the same verb aimed at a person.
How do you reply when a friend says ando apachurrado?
A question works better than advice - ¿qué pasó? or ¿quieres contarme? And ¿te doy un apapacho? is both the literal answer and the joke.
Is apachurrado a bad word?
Completely safe, and softer than it looks. Saying somebody is apachurrado is closer to concern than to diagnosis.
apachurrado vs apapachar, agüitado and deprimido
apachurradovsapapachar
Worth pairing them, though they are less confusable in speech than they look on paper. Apapachar is to hold or comfort somebody - un apapacho is a hug with intent - and apachurrar is to squash. The reason to learn them together is that an apapacho is the standard answer to somebody who is apachurrado.Page coming soonapachurradovsagüitado
The same mood with a different picture, and at least as common. As adjectives they swap freely - ando agüitado, ando apachurrado. What does not swap is the set phrase: no te agüites is everyday Mexican for do not get down about it, and no te apachurres is not really said.Page coming soonapachurradovsdeprimido
Deprimido is clinical and heavy. Apachurrado is deliberately not - reaching for deprimido changes what you are claiming about somebody, which is why Mexicans mostly do not.Page coming soonapachurradovsapachurrar (the physical verb)
Still alive and literal - se apachurró la caja, no apachurres el pan. The mood sense is the same verb pointed at a person.Page coming soon
Related words
Test yourself
Tap an answer.
Your friend texts 'ando apachurrado.' What are they telling you?
Somebody is apachurrado. What is the standard thing to offer?
The one thing
apachurrado means down and flat, and apachurrar means to squash. it is a deliberately small word, agüitado means the same thing, and apapachado - one syllable away - is its opposite.
Sources
- Dictionaryapachurrar, apachurrarseDiccionario de americanismos, ASALEThe verb underneath - to squash - and the countries that use the figurative sense.
- Dictionaryagüitado, agüitadaDiccionario breve de mexicanismos, Academia Mexicana de la LenguaThe near-twin, and the one that has the set phrase this word lacks.
- PressFrase mexicana: estar agüitado, origen y significadoEl Heraldo de MéxicoThe competing etymologies for agüitado, including the academy's own acuitar proposal.
- ContextQué significa apachurradoMagikitosOn the physical reading surviving inside the emotional one - flattened, run over by the week.
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