chivatón

What it means

1. 1.

   An informer. In Cuba this is not a playground word: it means someone who reports neighbours or colleagues to the authorities, typically through the block committee, and it is about the heaviest social accusation that can be made in ordinary conversation.

2. 2.

   The verb chivatear is to inform on someone; chivatería is the practice.

Examples with translations

• Baja la voz, que el vecino es chivatón.

  Keep your voice down, the neighbour is an informer.

• Nadie habla de política delante de él porque chivatea.

  Nobody talks politics in front of him because he informs.

  Note: Said flatly, as a practical warning rather than an insult.

Where it comes from

Augmentative of chivato, 'snitch', from chivo, 'kid goat' — an old Spanish metaphor for an animal that bleats and gives the herd away. The specifically Cuban weight comes from the Comités de Defensa de la Revolución, the neighbourhood watch structure created in 1960, which made the informer a fixed social role rather than an occasional figure.

First attested: the term is old; the Cuban charge dates from the 1960s

Other forms

Spellings and variants:

chivato