Quick Answer
Estoy bruja means I'm broke in Mexican Spanish. Bruja literally means witch, but the phrase has nothing to do with witchcraft and the origin is not documented. The form stays bruja regardless of the speaker's gender, and the slang carries no shame - it means out of money right now, not stingy.
- Estoy bruja means I'm broke - out of money right now, not permanently.
- The form does not change for gender. Men say ando bruja too.
- It carries no shame. Being bruja is a situation; being codo, having money and refusing to spend it, is the one that stings.
What it means
You have run out of money, and you are saying so lightly. Estoy bruja is a status update, not a confession - it usually arrives attached to a plan you are turning down or an order you are keeping small.
It is temporary by design. Nobody says ando bruja about their life; they say it about this week, this month, the stretch between now and payday. That is the difference between this and any of the serious words for poor.
Turning down a plan you cannot afford
Them¿Vas el sábado?
Are you in for Saturday?YouAy, ando bruja hasta la quincena.
Ah, I'm broke until payday.A complete answer. Nobody follows up, and nobody expects a number.
ThemNo hay bronca, hacemos cooperacha.
No problem, we'll all chip in.Cooperacha, or hacer una vaquita. This is the standard answer to somebody being bruja and it is why announcing it early works.
YouVa, y yo llevo algo.
Cool, and I'll bring something.Offering something small keeps it even without spending.
How Mexicans use it
Most often it explains a no. Ay, no puedo, ando bruja is a complete answer to an invitation, and it does not invite follow-up questions. Nobody asks how bruja.
It also gets said pre-emptively, before anyone can suggest anything expensive. Somebody arrives at a bar, announces ando bruja, and the group adjusts what it orders without discussing it.
Andar is at least as common as estar here. Ando bruja and estoy bruja mean the same thing, and andar leans a fraction more temporary - it frames the state as something you are moving through.
In chat it is short and usually unpunctuated, and it lands as a shrug: ando bruja jaja, or just bruja with a crying emoji. It is not a request to be paid for, and treating it as one can be slightly awkward.
Half the reason it is light is the calendar. Mexicans are paid on the fifteenth and the thirtieth, so being bruja is a predictable, twice-monthly, shared condition rather than a personal failure - everybody is bruja on the twenty-sixth, and ya cayó la quincena is a small national holiday. January has its own name for it: la cuesta de enero, the uphill month after the holidays when the whole country is broke together.
The answer to being bruja has a word too. Cooperacha is everybody putting in a bit, and hacer una vaquita is the same idea - ando bruja, hacemos cooperacha is the complete loop, and it is how most plans survive the end of the month.
Examples
- Ay, no puedo ir, ando bruja.Ah, I can't go, I'm broke.
- Estoy bruja hasta la quincena.I'm broke until payday.
- Ando bien bruja, nada más traigo para el metro.I'm completely broke, I've only got metro fare.
- Mejor vamos a un lugar barato, ando bruja.Let's go somewhere cheap instead, I've got no money.
What to say back
- No hay bronca, hacemos algo barato.No problem, we'll do something cheap.The normal reply, and usually the right one
- Yo te disparo esta vez.I'll get this one.Offering to pay, only with somebody close
- Ya somos dos.That makes two of us.When it is true, which at the end of the month it often is
- ¿Y si nos vemos después de la quincena?What if we do it after payday?Moving the plan instead of shrinking it
What it's actually doing
- The feeling · how much of the word it is
- Light complaintThe default. Said with a shrug, usually attached to a no, and over in one sentence.
- Pre-emptive warningAnnounced on arrival so nobody suggests somewhere with a wine list.
- Genuine stressRare, and you can hear it. The phrase is built to be light, so when it is not, it stands out.
Same word, different tone
- shrugAndo bruja, ni modo.I'm broke, oh well.
- emphaticAndo bien bruja.I'm completely broke.
- with an end dateAndo bruja hasta la quincena.I'm broke until payday.
- steering the planAndo bruja, ¿y si le bajamos a algo más barato?I'm broke - what if we go a bit cheaper?
How people actually type it
ando bruja 😭The crying emoji keeps it a joke. Without it the same two words can read heavier than intended.brujaOn its own as a reply to a plan. Understood instantly and needs nothing after it.bruja hasta la quincenaThe end date does the reassuring. Very common on the twenty-sixth of the month.
Mini dialogue
Common mistake
Saying ando brujo. The phrase does not agree with the speaker, so the masculine form marks you as somebody applying grammar rules to an expression that does not take them.
Confusing it with codo. If you tell a Mexican friend they are bruja when what you mean is that they never pay, you have said the sympathetic thing by accident. Reverse it - calling somebody codo when they genuinely have nothing - and you have said something cruel by accident, which is worse.
Don't sound gringo
the form does not change for men. a guy says ando bruja exactly as written - it is a fixed phrase, not an adjective.
Reaching for brujo will get you a look.
Notice how light it is. Being bruja carries no shame - it says you have no money right now, not that you are the kind of person who does not spend. That second thing is codo, and it is the insult. Getting the two the wrong way round is how a joke about the check turns into something else.
One more: watch the verb. Anda bruja is broke. Es una bruja, about a woman, is a straight insult.
Where you'll hear it
- Day twenty-six of the month, when the group chat suggests a place with tablecloths
- Ordering the cheapest chela on the board and announcing ando bruja before anyone asks
- Turning down a weekend trip with ay no puedo, ando bruja and no further explanation
- A student explaining her entire financial situation in two words and moving on
Spice level
works with anyone, anywhere.
FAQ
What does estoy bruja mean?
I'm broke. Bruja means witch literally, but the expression has nothing to do with witches - it means you are out of money right now.
Do men say estoy bruja too?
Yes, and the form does not change. A man says ando bruja or estoy bruja, not brujo. It behaves as a fixed expression rather than an adjective that agrees with the speaker.
Why does bruja mean broke in Mexico?
Nobody has established it. The one clue that is documented is the distribution - between them the dictionaries mark the phrase for Mexico, Cuba and Puerto Rico, so it looks Caribbean rather than Mexican in origin. The widely repeated Yoruba story has no linguistic source behind it.
What is cooperacha?
Everybody putting in a bit so a plan still happens. Hacer una vaquita is the same idea. It is the standard answer when somebody in the group says they are bruja.
What is la cuesta de enero?
The uphill month after the holidays, when the whole country is broke at the same time. It is the season the word bruja gets the most use.
What is the difference between estar bruja and ser codo?
Bruja is having no money, which is a situation and gets sympathy. Codo is having money and refusing to spend it, which is a character flaw and gets teased. Mixing them up is the one real risk with this word.
Is estoy bruja rude?
Not at all. It is light, self-deprecating, and carries no shame - people announce it at bars before anyone can suggest somewhere expensive.
Is it ando bruja or estoy bruja?
Both, and they mean the same thing. Andar leans slightly more temporary, framing it as something you are passing through, which is usually the point.
How do you say broke in Mexican Spanish?
Ando bruja is the everyday one. No traigo varo is the plain current version, and no traigo lana is its slightly older twin. Ando en ceros and ando en la chilla are heavier. Estar quebrado is heaviest, closer to ruined than to short this week.
Don't confuse with
- codoBruja is having no money. Codo is having it and not spending it. Bruja is a situation and gets sympathy; codo is a character flaw and gets teased. This is the distinction that actually matters.
- bruja (the witch)The literal sense is alive and well - una bruja is a witch, and it is also an insult for a woman, roughly hag. Estar bruja and ser una bruja are two completely different sentences.
- brujo (the adjective)There is a third sense nobody expects: brujo also means captivating or bewitching. Ojos brujos, mirada bruja. So bruja is broke, a witch, an insult and enchanting, all live at once, and only the sentence sorts them.
- quebradoQuebrado is broke in the serious, structural sense - a business, a person who lost everything. Bruja is temporary and light, the kind of broke that ends on payday.
- no traigo varoThe current plain version - varo is what anybody under thirty-five says for money, where no traigo lana is half a generation older. Both mean the same thing. Bruja is what you pick when you want it to sound like a passing condition rather than a fact about tonight.
- andar en la chillaEstar en la quinta chilla is the heavier one - properly broke, not just short until Friday. Ando en ceros and me quedé sin un quinto sit in the same place.
Related words
Test yourself
Tap an answer.
A male friend texts 'ando bruja.' What is he saying?
Your friend has money but never pays for anything. Which word is right?
The one thing
estoy bruja means i'm broke, temporarily, and it carries no shame. men say it in the feminine too. the origin is unknown - what is documented is that the phrase is caribbean as much as mexican.
Sources
- DictionarybrujaDiccionario breve de mexicanismos, Academia Mexicana de la LenguaRecords estar alguien bruja as Mexican for being out of money, and files the phrase under the feminine form only.
- DictionarybrujaDiccionario de americanismos, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua EspañolaMarks the no-money sense for Cuba, and carries the Cuban black witch moth in the same entry - two senses side by side, with nothing linking them.
- Dictionaryarrollado, arrolladaDiccionario de americanismos, Asociación de Academias de la Lengua EspañolaGives bruja as the Puerto Rican equivalent for having no money, which is what makes the phrase's footprint Caribbean rather than Mexican.
- InstitutionLey Federal del Trabajo, artículo 88Cámara de Diputados del H. Congreso de la UniónCaps the gap between paychecks at fifteen days for most workers, which is what makes being broke on the twenty-sixth a shared national schedule.
- InstitutionToma acción en la cuesta de eneroCONDUSEFThe federal financial regulator publishes January debt advice for the cuesta de enero, treating it as a predictable nationwide squeeze rather than a personal failure.
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