--- title: "chismoso" translation: "Gossipy. A gossip." type: "word" category: "slang" url: "https://consalsa.app/words/chismoso" canonical: "https://consalsa.app/words/chismoso" published: "2026-10-01" updated: "2026-10-01" author: "Andrey the Nomad" site: "ConSalsa.App" license: "https://consalsa.app/terms#ip" --- # chismoso URL: https://consalsa.app/words/chismoso Translation: Gossipy. A gossip. Pronunciation: /tʃisˈmo.so/ Category: slang Region: Mexico and most of Latin America Register: casual, mildly critical, very common Variants: chismosa, chismosos, chismear, chismolero Literal meaning: From el chisme, gossip. A chismoso is somebody who deals in it - collecting the story and passing it on. Tone & safety: Mild. Between friends it is teasing; said about somebody who actually did damage with a story, it is a real complaint. Published: 2026-10-01 Quick answer: - Un chismoso is somebody who collects gossip and passes it on. - El chisme itself is neutral and often affectionate - cuéntame el chisme is a normal thing to say to a friend. - A chismoso spreads, a metiche interferes, an argüendero stirs it up, and a cizañero sets two people against each other. Argüendero is the one you will only really meet here; what is Mexican about the rest is the habit of keeping all four apart in one breath. What it means: - Somebody who traffics in other people's business. They hear it first, they tell it fastest, and they usually know a version of it before the people involved have agreed on one. - The accusation is mostly about spreading rather than about knowing - what makes somebody chismoso is what they do with the story afterwards. In practice no seas chismoso gets aimed at plain nosiness all the time too, so treat the split as a tendency the language mostly observes rather than a rule it never breaks. Literal meaning: - From el chisme, gossip, plus the -oso ending that Spanish uses to turn a noun into a person characterized by it - envidioso from envidia, mentiroso from mentira, chismoso from chisme. - Chismoso itself travels across Latin America, and so does metiche - the dictionary marks it from Mexico to Uruguay. Argüendero is the genuinely narrow one, shared only with Guatemala and El Salvador. What is local is not the words so much as the habit of keeping all of them apart. - That ending is worth having as a set. It is the same productive machinery behind a good half of the words Mexicans use to describe each other, and once you can hear it you can guess at words you have never met. How Mexicans use it: - Behind the back, mostly. Es bien chismosa is a settled label rather than a description of one incident, and in an office or a building it is usually one several people have arrived at separately. - To the face it is teasing, and it survives. No seas chismoso, said to a friend fishing for detail, stops nothing - the person usually keeps asking and both of them know it is a routine. - The neutral noun is where the affection lives. Cuéntame el chisme, ¿cuál es el chisme?, no me pierdo un chisme - none of that is critical, and a coffee arranged specifically to relay something is a completely normal social event. The diminutive chismecito carries it furthest, and it is everywhere online. - The verb is chismear, and chismosear turns up too. Andar chismeando is the activity, and it is said about oneself as easily as about anybody else. Common mistake: - Using it as a synonym for metiche. A chismoso relays and a metiche interferes, and running them together is one of the quickest ways to sound like you learned the words from a list rather than from people. - Assuming el chisme is negative because chismoso is. The noun is neutral to warm - asking a friend for the chisme is closer to catching up than to gossiping, and treating it as an insult misreads a lot of ordinary conversation. Examples: - No seas chismoso, no te voy a contar. — Don't be such a gossip, I'm not telling you. - Es bien chismosa, todo se lo cuenta a todos. — She's such a gossip, she tells everyone everything. - Cuéntame el chisme, ya me enteré de algo. — Tell me the gossip, I heard something. - Andan chismeando en la cocina desde hace media hora. — They've been gossiping in the kitchen for half an hour. Mini dialogue: A: ¿Ya supo lo del cinco? B: No. ¿Qué pasó? A: Que se van. Ya pusieron el departamento en venta. B: ¿Neta? Si apenas llegaron. A: Eso mismo dije yo. B: Ay, qué chismosas somos. A: Bueno, pero cuénteme lo demás. FAQ: Q: What does chismoso mean? A: Gossipy - somebody who collects other people's business and passes it on. The judgment is about the spreading, not about the knowing. Q: What is the difference between chismoso and metiche? A: A chismoso spreads what they learn. A metiche gets involved - asks, advises, interferes. Plenty of people are both, but Mexicans keep the words apart. Q: Is chisme a bad word? A: No. El chisme is neutral and often affectionate - cuéntame el chisme is a normal thing to say to a friend. Chismoso is where the judgment sits. Q: What is an argüendero? A: The third one in the set. An argüendero stirs the drama up rather than relaying it - the story gets bigger passing through them. A cizañero is the fourth: somebody who sets two people against each other on purpose. Q: Is it rude to call someone chismoso? A: Mild. Between friends it is teasing and changes nothing. Said about somebody who did real damage with a story, it is a genuine complaint. Q: What is the feminine of chismoso? A: Chismosa, and it is used at least as often. The plural is chismosos or chismosas. Q: What does chismear mean? A: To gossip - the verb. Andan chismeando en la cocina. Chismosear exists too and means the same thing. Related words: metiche, mala-onda, lambiscon, naco, baboso