mucho

English

Etymology

From Spanish mucho. Unrelated to English much.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmuːt͡ʃoʊ/

  • Audio (California):

    (file)

Adjective

mucho (not comparable)

1. (often humorous) Much; a great deal of.
   • 1978, Debbie Harry, Chris Stein, “Heart of Glass”, in Parallel Lines, performed by Blondie, Chrysalis Records:

     Seemed like the real thing, only to find / Mucho mistrust, love's gone behind

   • 1989 December 22, Achy Obejas, “Calendar”, in Chicago Reader‎:

     There will be calamities, maudlin melodramas, and mucho pathos at Cries & Whispers--A Tragedy Club, which seeks to reverse our town's love of comedy.

Adverb

mucho (not comparable)

1. (often humorous) very
   • 2014 November 7, Hadley Freeman, “God save us from the philosemitism of Burchill, Amis and Mensch”, in The Guardian‎:

     And this makes sense because, as with Burchill, Amis’s philosemitism is quasi-sexual and mucho ridiculous.

Anagrams

• hocum, mouch

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmu.xɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uxɔ
• Syllabification: mu‧cho

Noun

mucho f

1. vocative singular of mucha

Spanish

Alternative forms

• muncho, mulcho (dialectal)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish mucho, from Latin multus (“much, many”), from the Proto-Indo-European *ml̥tos (“crumbled, crumpled”, past passive participle). Compare the Portuguese muito (“much, many, a lot”). Unrelated to English much, which is related to archaic maño (“big”) (the second element in tamaño).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmut͡ʃo/ [ˈmu.t͡ʃo]

• Audio (Peru):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -utʃo
• Syllabification: mu‧cho

Determiner

mucho m sg (feminine mucha, masculine plural muchos, feminine plural muchas)

1. (in the singular) much, a lot of

   No tengo mucho dinero.

   I don't have much money.

   Tengo mucho dinero.

   I have a lot of money.

2. (in the plural) many, a lot of

   Tengo muchas monedas.

   I have many coins.

Antonyms

• poco

Derived terms

• como mucho
• con mucho
• cuando mucho
• de muchas campanillas
• muchísimo
• mucho gusto
• mucho ruido y pocas nueces
• ni con mucho
• ni mucho menos
• ni mucho ni poco
• por mucho
• por mucho que
• quien mucho abarca, poco aprieta
• tener en mucho

Adverb

mucho (apocopated form muy)

1. much, a lot, far, way

   Es mucho más difícil salir que entrar.

   It is way harder to get out than to get in.

   La situación real era mucho más complicada de lo que se sugería en el documento.

   The real situation was far more complicated than was suggested in the document.

2. (in short answers to questions with muy) very

   Antonym: poco

   —¿Estás muy cansado? —Sí, mucho.

   —Are you very tired? —Yes, very.

3. long, a long time

   Antonym: poco

   Tarda mucho.

   It takes a long time.

Antonyms

• poco

Pronoun

mucho m (feminine mucha, masculine plural muchos, feminine plural muchas)

1. a lot, many

Derived terms

• nunca mucho cuesta poco

See also

• bastante
• más

Further reading

• “mucho”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025
• “mucho”, in Diccionario panhispánico de dudas [Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts] (in Spanish), 2nd edition, Royal Spanish Academy; Association of Academies of the Spanish Language, 2023, →ISBN