garrafal

Borrowed from Spanish garrafal, variant of garrofal, from Catalan garrofa.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ɡə.rəˈfal]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ɡa.raˈfal]

garrafal m or f (masculine and feminine plural garrafals)

1. (of an error) huge, colossal, glaring

   Synonyms: enorme, majúscul, colossal

• “garrafal”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: gar‧ra‧fal

garrafal m or f (plural garrafais)

1. (of written words) huge

   letras garrafais ― huge handwriting

• “garrafal”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “garrafal”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

• IPA^(key): /ɡaraˈfal/ [ɡa.raˈfal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: ga‧rra‧fal

garrafal m or f (masculine and feminine plural garrafales)

1. (of an error) huge, colossal, glaring

   error garrafal ― colossal error

   fallo garrafal ― colossal error

   falta garrafal ― epic fail

   ausencia garrafal ― glaring absence

   mentira garrafal ― whopping lie

   • 1899, Benito Pérez Galdós, “Chapter 4”, in La estafeta romántica:

     y está siempre buscándole tres pies al gato, hasta que le da la idea negra de pegarse un tiro, lo cual debo condenar por garrafal tontería, a más de condenarlo por pecado execrable.

     and is always complicating things, until he gets the grim idea of shooting himself, which I must condemn as a colossal foolishness, in addition to condemning it as an execrable sin.

• “garrafal”, 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