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Echarse un coyotito means to take a quick nap in Mexican Spanish - short, opportunistic, and usually somewhere that is not a bed. Coyotito is a diminutive of coyote, from Náhuatl coyotl, and the usual account is that coyotes doze by day. Planchar oreja is the equally common alternative.
- Echarse un coyotito means to take a quick nap - short, opportunistic, and usually not in a bed.
- Coyotito is a little coyote, from Náhuatl coyotl - and coyotes are nocturnal, dozing through the day in short stretches.
- Planchar oreja and echarse una pestañita mean the same thing; una siesta is the full-size version.
What it means
A short nap you did not plan for. Twenty minutes after lunch, ten in a parked car, an accidental one at a desk - the word carries the shortness and the improvisation together.
It is affectionate rather than lazy. Somebody announcing they are going to echarse un coyotito is not confessing to anything, and in a lot of Mexican households a Sunday afternoon is understood to contain several.
Literal meaning
Un coyotito is a little coyote, and coyote itself comes from Náhuatl coyotl - that much is documented. The usual account of the nap sense is that coyotes are nocturnal and doze through daylight in short stretches, which fits both the animal and the nap well enough to be the standard explanation rather than a story invented to fill a gap.
What is not recorded is when or where the phrase was first said - which is true of nearly every fixed expression in the language, and is a much smaller gap than nobody knows.
The diminutive is doing real work regardless of the animal. Coyote would not mean this; coyotito does, and the -ito is what makes it small, quick and forgivable.
Echarse is the same verb behind echarse un taco and echarse una chela - to have one of something, casually, without ceremony. That construction is worth more to a learner than the coyote is.
The forms of echarse un coyotito you'll hear
- echarse un coyotitoto take a quick napThe full phrase. Echarse is the same verb as in echarse un taco - to have one, casually.
- voy a echarme un coyotitoI'm going for a napThe announcement, and a normal thing to say in a Mexican office.
- me eché un coyotitoI had a napAfter the fact, usually with the length attached - de veinte minutos.
- quedarse jetónto be fast asleepMe quedé jetón. Watch the other sense though - jetón also means sulky or annoyed.
- planchar orejato iron your earThe funnier alternative, and just as common. Anda planchando oreja.
- echarse una pestañitaa very short napShorter than a coyotito. Five minutes rather than twenty.
How Mexicans use it
After food, above all. La comida is the main meal and it lands in the middle of the afternoon, which is exactly why the word exists and why Sunday is its natural habitat.
At work it is said half as a joke and half as a plan. Voy a echarme un coyotito is a real sentence in a Mexican office, usually about twenty minutes in a car or a quiet room, and nobody treats it as scandalous.
The alternatives are all in use and worth having. Planchar oreja is the funniest, echarse una pestañita is the shortest, and echarse un jeto is the bluntest - with quedarse jetón for the state, as in me quedé jetón. Echarse un sueñito and una dormidita are the softest. Una siesta is the full-size, in-a-bed version.
You will occasionally hear the diminutive stacked for a joke, but what people normally say for a shorter one is un coyotito chiquito, or just nada más un coyotito.
Examples
- Voy a echarme un coyotito.I'm going to take a quick nap.
- Me eché un coyotito de veinte minutos y quedé como nuevo.I had a twenty-minute nap and felt like a new man.
- Después de la comida siempre me echo un coyotito.I always take a nap after lunch.
- No lo despiertes, anda planchando oreja.Don't wake him, he's having a nap.
How echarse un coyotito looks in a group chat
- ¿ya viste el correo del cliente?did you see the client's email?
- todavía no, me eché un coyotito después de comer 🙈not yet, i had a nap after lunch
- jajaja pozole verdadhahaha pozole, right
- pozole. ahorita lo veopozole. i'll look at it in a bit
Mini dialogue
Common mistake
Treating the diminutive as decoration. Coyote on its own would not mean this; coyotito does, and the -ito is what makes the nap small, quick and forgivable. Un coyote is a different word entirely.
Mixing it up with coyote in the paperwork sense. Un coyote is a fixer who moves your documents through an office for a fee, and at the border the word means something much heavier. The nap is a separate word that happens to share an animal.
Don't sound gringo
un coyotito is short, opportunistic and usually happens somewhere that is not a bed.
Twenty minutes on a sofa after Sunday lunch, ten in a parked car, a stretch at a desk with the screen still on. The full-sized nap is una siesta; a coyotito is the one you were not really planning.
Coyote is from Nahuatl coyotl, and the standard account of the nap sense is that coyotes are nocturnal and doze through the day in short bursts - which fits both the animal and the nap. What is not recorded is when the phrase itself was first said.
Where you'll hear it
- A Sunday afternoon where three people are asleep in one living room and nobody planned it
- A parked car with the seat reclined and forty minutes to spare before a meeting
- An office at half past three, and somebody's chin slowly approaching their keyboard
- Immediately after too much food, in the chair the food was eaten in
FAQ
What does echarse un coyotito mean?
To take a quick nap - short, opportunistic, and usually somewhere that is not a bed. Twenty minutes after lunch is the classic.
Why is a nap called a little coyote?
Coyote comes from Náhuatl coyotl, and the standard account is that coyotes are nocturnal and doze through daylight in short stretches - which fits both the animal and the nap. What is not recorded is when the phrase was first used.
What is the difference between un coyotito and una siesta?
Size and intent. Una siesta is a proper nap, in a bed, planned. Un coyotito is short, improvised and often in a chair or a car.
What does planchar oreja mean?
To iron your ear - the other Mexican way to say take a nap, and slightly funnier. It works anywhere echarse un coyotito does.
What is echarse una pestañita?
A little eyelash - an even shorter nap. It is the one people use when they mean five minutes rather than twenty.
Is it rude to say you're taking a coyotito at work?
Not at all. Voy a echarme un coyotito is a normal sentence in a Mexican office, usually meaning twenty minutes in a car, and nobody treats it as a confession.
Is this related to coyote meaning a fixer?
Both go back to the same animal, but they are separate words in use. Un coyote is somebody who moves your paperwork through an office for a fee, and at the border it means something much heavier. Neither has anything to do with sleeping.
What does quedarse jetón mean?
To be fast asleep - me quedé jetón. It is what Mexicans say far more often than jetazo. Careful with the other sense: jetón also means sulky or annoyed.
What is dormir la mona?
Sleeping off a drunk. It looks like a nap phrase and is not, and the two do not swap in either direction.
echarse un coyotito vs siesta and planchar oreja
echarse un coyotitovssiesta
The proper nap, in a bed, with intent. A coyotito is shorter, opportunistic, and usually happens somewhere that is not a bed - which is most of the difference between them.Page coming soonecharse un coyotitovsplanchar oreja
To iron your ear - the other Mexican way to say the same thing, and slightly funnier. Voy a planchar oreja works anywhere echarse un coyotito does.Page coming soonecharse un coyotitovsecharse una pestañita
A little eyelash. Even shorter than a coyotito, and the one people use when they mean five minutes rather than twenty.Page coming soonecharse un coyotitovsdormir la mona
Looks like a nap phrase and is not. Dormir la mona is sleeping off a drunk, and the two are not interchangeable in any direction.Page coming soonecharse un coyotitovscoyote (the person)
Nothing to do with the nap, and worth keeping separate. Un coyote is a fixer - somebody who moves your paperwork through an office for a fee - and at the border it is a people smuggler. Same animal, very different word.Page coming soon
Related words
Test yourself
Tap an answer.
Where does the coyote in coyotito come from?
Which one means a shorter nap than a coyotito?
The one thing
echarse un coyotito is a quick nap - short, improvised, usually not in a bed. coyote is náhuatl coyotl, and coyotes doze by day. planchar oreja is the funnier twin.
Sources
- DictionarycoyotitoDiccionario de americanismos, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua EspañolaThe word is recorded with exactly the sense the page gives - a short nap - and is marked Mexican and Salvadoran.
- ResearchcoyotlGran Diccionario Náhuatl, Instituto de Investigaciones Bibliográficas, UNAMThe Nahuatl root traced through the colonial dictionaries - Molina 1571, Rincón 1595, Arenas 1611 - glossed as zorra and adive, with Clavijero giving the Spanish coyote.
- Press¡Qué ganas de echarse un coyotito! Este es el origen de la fraseMilenioThe animal account of the phrase, reported as what people say rather than as settled etymology.
- ContextEcharse un coyotito: origen de este dicho popularMéxico DesconocidoThe same account of the coyote's daytime dozing, and how Mexicans describe the nap it names.
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