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candela

kahn-DEH-lahnoun, adjectiveColloquial

A Cuban Spanish slang term. Browse all Cuban slang.

What it means

  1. Estar en candela: to be in serious trouble, or for a situation to be dire. Applied to a person, a marriage, the economy or the weather.

  2. Ser candela: of a person, to be a handful — wild, mischievous, ungovernable. Often said with real affection about a child.

  3. Dar candela: to give someone a hard time; also, of a car or a machine, to give trouble.

Literally: Flame, fire.

Examples with translations

  • La cosa está en candela, asere.

    Things are in a bad way, mate.

  • Esa niña es candela, no para un minuto.

    That kid is a live wire, she doesn't stop for a second.

  • Me dio candela todo el viaje.

    He gave me grief the whole journey.

Where it comes from

The ordinary Spanish word for flame, worked hard by Cuban speech into a general figure for heat, danger and unruliness. Related expressions — echar candela, meterle candela — extend the same image, and the word turns up constantly in son and timba lyrics.