Today’s Spanish word of the day is “cuidar”.
It’s a verb meaning “to take care of”, “care for” or “to look after”.
It’s often used in the reflexive form “cuidarse”, meaning “to look after oneself” or “to take care of oneself”. For example, it’s common to say “¡cuídate!” (literally “take care of yourself!”) when saying goodbye to someone.
The word “cuidar” originally derives from Latin cogitare, meaning “to think”. Presumably it acquired its current meaning since there’s considerable overlap between things we think about and things we care for.
One related Spanish word is “cuidado”, which can be used as a noun meaning “care”, but is often also used as an interjection meaning “be careful” or “watch out”, for example:
¡Cuidado! Ese sartén está muy caliente. – Careful! That pan is very hot.
Example sentences
Necesito cuidar mi presupuesto este mes para ahorrar dinero.
I need to watch my budget this month to save money.
Cuidaremos la casa mientras mis padres estén de viaje.
We will take care of the house while my parents are traveling.
Lucía se ofreció a cuidar las mochilas mientras los demás iban a explorar.
Lucía offered to watch over the backpacks while the others went exploring.
Cuando era niño, cuidaba las plantas de mi abuela.
When I was a child, I used to take care of my grandmother’s plants.
Él se prometió cuidarse después de superar su enfermedad.
He promised himself to take care of himself after recovering from his illness.
