Ways to say it
| Spanish | IPA |
|---|---|
| hackear | /xakeˈaɾ/ /hakeˈaɾ/ |
| jaquear | /xakeˈaɾ/ |
The primary way to express the act of gaining illegal access to a computer network is through the verb hackear. In different contexts, other verbs may be used: Piratear often relates to bypassing security measures or unauthorized access, Intervenir is used when referring to intercepting digital information and Trucar is used when hacking involves modifying software or games to gain an advantage.
Which one should you use?
hackear is the most common way to say 'to hack' in a digital context, while jaquear is an alternative form.
Is there a formal and an informal way to say it?
hackear is an informal anglicism. Other options like Piratear, Intervenir and Trucar are also considered informal.
Related words
How does it change in a sentence?
The past participle of hackear is hackeado, which you can use to form perfect tenses or as an adjective. To refer to the plural noun 'hacks', you use hackeos.
How do you pronounce it?
/xakeˈaɾ/
Did you know?
- The alternative spelling jaquear is derived from the word jaque, which means 'check' in the game of chess.
- While hackear is an anglicism, the Spanish suffix -ear is used to turn many foreign nouns into verbs, such as googlear for 'to google'.
- Unlike the English 'hack', which can mean to chop wood, the Spanish anglicism hackear is strictly limited to the digital realm and carries no physical meaning of cutting or chopping.
Examples in context
- Alguna persona te va a hackear.Someone's going to hack you.This sentence shows how to use hackear to describe someone performing a hack against a person.Tatoeba #10261224 by Seael, translation #10262039 by DJ_Saidez
- Tom no pudo hackear ese sitio web.Tom couldn't hack into that website.This sentence demonstrates using hackear in the context of a website being hacked.Tatoeba #1399936 by marcelostockle, translation #1095108 by CK
- Es necesario contratar a un experto en seguridad cibernética para prevenir posibles hackeos en nuestra red.It is necessary to hire a cybersecurity expert to prevent possible hacks on our network.
- ¿Sabes cómo piratear tu propia consola de videojuegos para desbloquear contenido adicional?Do you know how to hack your own game console to unlock additional content?
- Alguien intentó intervenir mi cuenta de correo electrónico, pero gracias a la autenticación en dos pasos, no tuvieron éxito.Someone tried to hack my email account, but thanks to two-step authentication, they were unsuccessful.
- Intentaron hackear el servidor del banco.They tried to hack the bank's server.
- 1 more sentence on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Javier and Sofia are discussing a security breach at work.
- JavierSofía, alguien intentó hackear el servidor ayer.Sofia, someone tried to hack the server yesterday.
- SofíaEso es terrible, ¿lograron entrar?That's terrible, did they manage to get in?
- JavierNo, el sistema de seguridad funcionó bien.No, the security system worked well.
- SofíaMenos mal que no pudieron hackear nada.Thank goodness they couldn't hack anything.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hack” translations and entries hackear, jaquear, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries hackear, jaquear, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
