Spanish Word of the Day: Guante (glove)

A few weeks back, I touched upon discussing pairs of objects using the example of a glove (guante). Today, I figured we could delve deeper into the word guante itself.

The origins of the word guante are somewhat uncertain, but it’s widely believed to have derived from the Catalan word guant, meaning gauntlet. This term likely evolved from the Frankish word want, ultimately leading to the French gant, also with the same meaning.

Additionally, there was a Medieval Latin word wantus, which likely originated from the Germanic word wante. These terms share similarities in form and meaning.

Guante is a masculine noun and takes the following definite and indefinite articles:

• el guante = the glove
• los guantes = the gloves
• un guante = a glove
• unos guantes = some gloves (or a pair of gloves)

We wear gloves on our hands not only to keep them warm but also to protect them, as well as to safeguard others. Some of the most common everyday types of gloves we use include:

• guante de lana = woolen glove
• guante de piel = leather glove
• guante de trabajo = work glove
• guante de goma = rubber glove
• guante de látex = latex glove
• guante de beisbol = baseball glove
• guante de boxeo = boxing glove
• guante de cirujano = surgical glove
• guante de jardinería = gardening glove

As well as guante there are other words used for glove in Spanish that you might sometimes hear: quiroteca (glove), manopla (oven mitt) and mitón (mitten).

Fun Fact: The English simile to fit like a glove is the same in Spanish – encaje como un guante using the verb encajar (to fit).

Useful idioms and expressions with guante:

Fun Fact: When we say something is white collar in English, this can be expressed using guante blanco in Spanish.

A white collar crime would be delito de guante blanco.