What does "perreo" mean?

The reggaeton dance — close, hip-driven grinding.

Country: 🇵🇷 Puerto Rico
Say it: peh-RREH-oh
Register: Friends & informal

How it's actually used

*Perrear* is the verb and a *perreo* is also the party itself: *vamos a un perreo*. Central to reggaeton vocabulary worldwide, and reclaimed by *perreo combativo* and feminist reggaeton scenes as something owned rather than done to you.

Examples

Vamos a perrear toda la noche. We’re going to dance all night.
Ese tema es puro perreo. That track is pure perreo.

Where it comes from

From *perro*, dog — a blunt description of the posture. Born in 1990s underground San Juan.

Before you say it

Not vulgar exactly, but unmistakably sexual. Normal in music and nightlife, odd anywhere else.

Now actually use it out loud

Reading a definition isn't the same as saying it to someone. Lingo Kaiava is a voice tutor set to Puerto Rican Spanish — it uses perreo the way locals do, corrects you in the moment, and never "fixes" the way real people actually talk into textbook Puerto Rican Spanish.