Royal Spanish Academy adds Cuban slang asere to official dictionary

The Royal Spanish Academy and the Association of Academies of the Spanish Language included the Cuban slang term asere in the 24th edition of the Diccionario de la lengua española (DLE).

The academy and the association announced the update in Madrid on October 31. This new edition is the first to be designed primarily in a digital format and marks the first major update in twelve years.

The Cuban Academy of Language selected asere as the representative word for Cuba during a lengthy recognition process. The inclusion of the word settles a long-standing spelling debate among Cubans. While both versions with a c and an s are acceptable, the dictionary now recommends the spelling with an s because it appears more frequently in daily speech. The update also includes the term cocotaxi. Roxanne Vargas, a Cuban-American host at NBC6 South Florida, celebrated the news on social media.

She noted that the term is one of the most popular words in Cuban speech, used to refer to a friend or buddy. The dictionary serves as the global reference for the Spanish language, giving the term a higher level of formal acknowledgment.