grillz
/ɡɾiʝθ/from spelling rules
The English phrase grillz is used in Spanish to refer to decorative covers made of gold or diamonds that are worn over the teeth.
In Spanish, the term grillz is used to describe jewelry that covers the teeth, typically made from precious metals like gold or encrusted with diamonds.
How do you pronounce it?
/ɡɾiʝθ/
Did you know?
- Using the Spanish word for a cooking grill, parrilla, to describe dental jewelry would be seen as a joke about cooking your own teeth.
- Because grillz is a direct loanword from English, it does not follow standard Spanish pluralization rules for nouns ending in 'z'. In formal writing, you might see it treated as an invariable noun, but in urban slang, it remains exactly as it appears in English.
- Within Spanish-speaking trap and reggaeton cultures, grillz acts as a linguistic marker of a globalized street identity rather than just a description of jewelry.
Examples in context
- dientes decorativos de oroGold grillz
- Mirá mis chapas nuevasLook at my new grillz
- Él tiene unos grillz de oro.He has some gold grillz.
- Esos grillz de diamantes son increíbles.Those diamond grillz are incredible.
- ¿Dónde compraste tus grillz?Where did you buy your grillz?
Example conversation
Two friends are looking at a music video on a phone.
- SofíaMira sus grillz en el video.Look at his grillz in the video.
- AlejandroSon unos grillz muy brillantes.They are very shiny grillz.
- SofíaAlejandro, ¿te gustarían unos así?Alejandro, would you like some like those?
- AlejandroNo, son demasiado caros.No, they are too expensive.
Sources
- IPA marked “from spelling rules” is derived from standard Spanish spelling, where Wiktionary gives none.
