electrocutado
/eleɡtɾokutado/from spelling rules
The Spanish word for electrocuted is electrocutado.
For formal contexts, you can also use the phrases fallecer por electrocución or morir por una descarga eléctrica to express that someone has died due to electrocution or an electric shock.
Which one should you use?
If someone receives a painful but non-fatal shock, do not use electrocutar. Instead, use dar una descarga eléctrica to mean to give an electric shock.
How does it change in a sentence?
As a past participle used as an adjective, electrocutado must agree in gender and number with the subject. For example, you would use electrocutada for a female and electrocutados for a group.
How do you pronounce it?
/eleɡtɾokutado/
What mistakes should you avoid?
English speakers often mistakenly use electrocutado to mean a non-fatal electric shock. However, in Spanish, it almost exclusively implies death by electricity.
Did you know?
- Because electrocutado implies death, using it to describe a minor shock during a conversation can sound like a dark joke or a dramatic exaggeration to a native speaker.
- In some Spanish-speaking regions, people use the verb dar un toque to describe a small, non-fatal electric shock, which literally means 'to give a touch'.
- The word descarga in descarga eléctrica also means 'unloading' or 'downloading', as in downloading a file from the internet.
Examples in context
- El trabajador fue electrocutado ayer.The worker was electrocuted yesterday.
- Cuidado, no quiero ser electrocutado.Watch out, I don't want to be electrocuted.
- El técnico fue electrocutado por un cable.The technician was electrocuted by a cable.
Example conversation
Elena and Javier are talking about a dangerous appliance.
- ElenaNo toques ese enchufe, Javier.Don't touch that socket, Javier.
- Javier¿Por qué? Parece normal.Why? It looks normal.
- ElenaEstá roto y podrías quedar electrocutado.It is broken and you could be electrocuted.
- JavierTienes razón, mejor no lo toco.You are right, I better not touch it.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
