What Is The Meaning Of "Largo" In Spanish
What Is the Meaning of Largo in Spanish?
Largo (IPA: /ˈlaɾɣo/) is a common Spanish adjective meaning long — referring to length in space or duration in time. It agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies: largo (masculine singular), larga (feminine singular), largos (masculine plural), largas (feminine plural). It also appears in several high-frequency expressions.
Primary Meanings of Largo
| Form | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Adjective (m.) | long (length or duration) | un camino largo — a long road |
| Adjective (f.) | long | una cola larga — a long queue |
| Noun | the length | el largo de la piscina — the length of the pool |
| Adverb (informal) | far, at length | hablar largo y tendido — to talk at great length |
Example Sentences with Largo
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| El vuelo fue muy largo; llegamos agotados. | The flight was very long; we arrived exhausted. |
| Tiene el pelo largo y oscuro. | She has long, dark hair. |
| A lo largo de su carrera ganó numerosos premios. | Throughout her career she won numerous awards. |
| El largo del salón es de ocho metros. | The length of the living room is eight metres. |
| Fue un invierno largo y frío. | It was a long, cold winter. |
| Hablaron largo y tendido sobre el problema. | They talked at great length about the problem. |
Common Expressions with Largo
| Expression | Meaning |
|---|---|
| a lo largo de | throughout, along |
| a lo largo del tiempo | over time, throughout the years |
| largo y tendido | at great length, in depth |
| de largo | in length (measurement) |
| a largo plazo | in the long term |
| ¡Largo de aquí! | Get out of here! (colloquial) |
| pasar de largo | to pass by without stopping |
Usage Notes
Largo vs. mucho tiempo: While largo describes length or duration as a quality, Spanish speakers often prefer mucho tiempo (a long time) for temporal expressions: Esperé mucho tiempo (I waited a long time) sounds more natural than un tiempo largo, though both are correct.
The phrase a lo largo de is one of the most useful expressions in academic and formal Spanish. It corresponds to English “throughout” or “along”: a lo largo del río (along the river), a lo largo de la historia (throughout history).
A largo plazo (long-term) appears frequently in business, economics, and planning contexts — the opposite is a corto plazo (short-term).
Expand Your Spanish Vocabulary
Words like bien, dudar, and largo appear in the top 2,000 most common Spanish words — and learning them in frequency order is the fastest path to fluency. Our Spanish Frequency Dictionaries cover the 10,000 most common Spanish words across four volumes, each entry with IPA pronunciation, part of speech, and bilingual example sentences.