arañar

Spanish

Alternative forms

aruñar

Etymology

Uncertain. Possibly derived from arar (“to plough”), from Latin arāre, with the sense taken from that of making shallow furrows or grooves. Alternatively, linked to araña (“spider”) from Latin arānea, though a semantic link is difficult; perhaps the meaning stemmed from the spider being an aggressive animal, to that of fighting or quarreling, and later a secondary sense of "scratch" developed as a result (compare Old French hargner (“to fight”) and modern French hargneux (“aggressive”), which may be of Germanic origin instead; see also old Old Italian aragnarsi (“to come to blows”)). It may instead have a link to the meaning developed in Romanian râie (“scabies, mange, itch”), which itself was derived from the same Latin word, arānea (cf. also Spanish roña and Italian rogna (“scabies, mange”), which may come from a variant form *aronea; compare aruñar, the alternative form of arañar, which may alternatively have been influenced by uña (“nail”)). In this theory, the original meaning was to scrape or scratch oneself to relieve an itch, but this has not been attested. It is possible the relation with arānea is more indirect, however.^[1]

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /aɾaˈɲaɾ/ [a.ɾaˈɲaɾ]
Audio: (file)
Rhymes: -aɾ
Syllabification: a‧ra‧ñar

Verb

arañar (first-person singular present araño, first-person singular preterite arañé, past participle arañado)

(transitive) to scratch
Synonyms: rascar, rasguñar

Conjugation

Conjugation of arañar (See Appendix:Spanish verbs)

		singular			plural
infinitive			arañar
gerund			arañando
past participle				masculine		feminine
		singular		arañado		arañada
		plural		arañados		arañadas
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	araño	arañas^{^tú} arañás^{^vos}	araña	arañamos	arañáis	arañan
	imperfect	arañaba	arañabas	arañaba	arañábamos	arañabais	arañaban
	preterite	arañé	arañaste	arañó	arañamos	arañasteis	arañaron
	future	arañaré	arañarás	arañará	arañaremos	arañaréis	arañarán
	conditional	arañaría	arañarías	arañaría	arañaríamos	arañaríais	arañarían

subjunctive		yo	tú vos	él/ella/ello usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ellos/ellas ustedes
	present	arañe	arañes^{^tú} arañés^{^vos²}	arañe	arañemos	arañéis	arañen
	imperfect (ra)	arañara	arañaras	arañara	arañáramos	arañarais	arañaran
	imperfect (se)	arañase	arañases	arañase	arañásemos	arañaseis	arañasen
	future¹	arañare	arañares	arañare	arañáremos	arañareis	arañaren

imperative		—	tú vos	usted	nosotros nosotras	vosotros vosotras	ustedes
	affirmative		araña^{^tú} arañá^{^vos}	arañe	arañemos	arañad	arañen
	negative		no arañes	no arañe	no arañemos	no arañéis	no arañen

¹Mostly obsolete, now mainly used in legal language.
²Argentine and Uruguayan voseo prefers the tú form for the present subjunctive.

Selected combined forms of arañar

These forms are generated automatically and may not actually be used. Pronoun usage varies by region.

		singular			plural
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
with infinitive arañar
	dative	arañarme	arañarte	arañarle, arañarse	arañarnos	arañaros	arañarles, arañarse
	accusative	arañarme	arañarte	arañarlo, arañarla, arañarse	arañarnos	arañaros	arañarlos, arañarlas, arañarse

with gerund arañando
	dative	arañándome	arañándote	arañándole, arañándose	arañándonos	arañándoos	arañándoles, arañándose
	accusative	arañándome	arañándote	arañándolo, arañándola, arañándose	arañándonos	arañándoos	arañándolos, arañándolas, arañándose

with informal second-person singular tú imperative araña
	dative	aráñame	aráñate	aráñale	aráñanos	not used	aráñales
	accusative	aráñame	aráñate	aráñalo, aráñala	aráñanos	not used	aráñalos, aráñalas

with informal second-person singular vos imperative arañá
	dative	arañame	arañate	arañale	arañanos	not used	arañales
	accusative	arañame	arañate	arañalo, arañala	arañanos	not used	arañalos, arañalas

with formal second-person singular imperative arañe
	dative	aráñeme	not used	aráñele, aráñese	aráñenos	not used	aráñeles
	accusative	aráñeme	not used	aráñelo, aráñela, aráñese	aráñenos	not used	aráñelos, aráñelas

with first-person plural imperative arañemos
	dative	not used	arañémoste	arañémosle	arañémonos	arañémoos	arañémosles
	accusative	not used	arañémoste	arañémoslo, arañémosla	arañémonos	arañémoos	arañémoslos, arañémoslas

with informal second-person plural imperative arañad
	dative	arañadme	not used	arañadle	arañadnos	arañaos	arañadles
	accusative	arañadme	not used	arañadlo, arañadla	arañadnos	arañaos	arañadlos, arañadlas

with formal second-person plural imperative arañen
	dative	aráñenme	not used	aráñenle	aráñennos	not used	aráñenles, aráñense
	accusative	aráñenme	not used	aráñenlo, aráñenla	aráñennos	not used	aráñenlos, aráñenlas, aráñense

Derived terms

arañazo

References

^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “arañar”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos