duro

What it means

1. 1.

   Excellent, hard-hitting — said of a song, a goal, an outfit or a piece of work. 'Eso tá duro' is the standard verdict of approval.

2. 2.

   Of a person, formidably good at something: 'tú tá duro' means you are killing it. The praise is competitive rather than warm.

Literally: hard

Examples with translations

• Ese tema tá duro, súbelo.

  That track goes hard, turn it up.

• Tú tá duro con ese inglé', loco.

  Your English is seriously good, man.

Where it comes from

Standard duro, 'hard', with the same figurative move English makes in 'that goes hard'. The two developments are independent; the Dominican usage predates the English one by decades and was reinforced by reggaeton and dembow rather than borrowed from it.

Other forms

Similar terms:

jevi