Cuba: The RAE adds "asere" and "cocotaxi" to the 24th edition of its dictionary

The Real Academia Española and the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language presented the 24th edition of the Diccionario de la lengua española in Madrid on October 30. The Cuban word "asere" officially enters the dictionary, along with its variant "acere," alongside other terms specific to Cuban Spanish, including "cocotaxi" and "agromercado." Two Cuban media outlets, Cubadebate and Escambray, each reported the news independently.

What the definition of "asere" says

The dictionary gives two meanings for this word. The first designates a "persona con quien existe una relación de amistad muy cercana." The second corresponds to a "usado como apelativo para dirigirse a una persona en tono de confianza."

As for the variant "acere," it already appeared in the Diccionario de americanismos, where it was defined as "amigo íntimo, compañero inseparable."

One hundred Cubanisms included

According to Escambray, this edition includes one hundred Cubanisms, chosen by a team of experts after a research process that the media outlet describes as meticulous. Among them, the "cocotaxi" is a motorized tricycle used for urban passenger transport, whose semi-spherical body evokes the shape of a coconut. The "agromercado" is an establishment that brings together several stalls selling agricultural products.

Still according to this media outlet, the Cuban Academy of Language believes that this project strengthens the commitment to the preservation and dissemination of Cuban linguistic heritage.

An edition designed primarily for digital

Escambray specifies that this edition appears twelve years after the previous one, dated 2014. It is the first designed from the outset in a digital format, with the printed version being derived from it. The work contains 99,990 entries and nearly 209,000 definitions, as well as more than 6,000 new features, whether they be new terms, added meanings, or modifications.