Spanish Words That Start With M | List & Examples

There are many words that start with M in Spanish. Some may be familiar to English speakers (e.g., “metal,” “metro,” and “mar”), but others won’t be.

Below, you’ll find lists of some adjectives, nouns, verbs, and other words that start with M in Spanish.

Spanish words that start with M example
El médico mexicano medía la mirada misteriosa del mono mientras mezclaba la medicina con miel. [The Mexican doctor measured the monkey’s mysterious gaze while mixing the medicine with honey.]

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Spanish adjectives that start with M

Some Spanish adjectives that start with M are:

  • Macedonio: Macedonian
  • Madrileño: from/of Madrid
  • Maduro: mature; ripe
  • Magenta: magenta
  • Mágico: magic; magical
  • Magnético: magnetic
  • Magnífico: magnificent
  • Magrebí: Maghrebi
  • Malasio: Malaysian
  • Maldivo: Maldivian (from/of Maldives)
  • Maleducado: rude; poor-mannered
  • Maliense: Malian
  • Malgache: Malagasy (from/of Madadgascar)
  • Malo: bad; evil
  • Maltés: Maltese
  • Manipulador: manipulative
  • Maravilloso: marvelous; wonderful
  • Marfileño: ivory-like; Ivorian (from/of the Ivory Coast)
  • Marroquí: Moroccan
  • Matemático: mathematical
  • Mauritano: Mauritanian
  • Mayor: older; greater
  • Mediano: medium; average
  • Mediocre: mediocre
  • Melancólico: melancholic
  • Menor: younger; lesser
  • Mentiroso: lying; untruthful
  • Meticuloso: meticulous
  • Mexicano: Mexican
  • Miedoso: fearful; timid
  • Mimado: spoiled
  • Minimalista: minimalist
  • Miserable: miserable
  • Misterioso: mysterious
  • Moderno: modern
  • Mojado: wet
  • Molesto: annoying; upset
  • Mongol: Mongolian
  • Monótono: monotonous
  • Montenegrino: Montenegran (from/of Montenegro)
  • Moral: moral
  • Mórbido: morbid; sick
  • Mordaz: scathing; caustic; mordant
  • Moreno: dark-haired; tan
  • Mozambiqueño: Mozambican (from/of Mozambique)
  • Musculoso: muscular
Spanish adjectives that start with M examples
El chico mexicano es musculoso, moderno, y un poco miedoso. [The Mexican guy is muscular, modern, and a bit timid.]

La artista montenegrina pintó un cuadro mágico, magnífico y muy melancólico. [The Moroccan artist painted a magical, magnificent, and very melancholic painting.]

Note
Spanish adjectives change their endings to agree with the gender of the nouns they describe. Masculine adjectives typically end in “o” (e.g., “moreno“) while feminine adjectives usually end in “a” (e.g., “morena“). Some adjectives do not change (e.g., “mordaz”).

In addition, most proper adjectives are not capitalized in Spanish like in English. For example, “la artista montenegrina” uses a lowercase M, while its English translation (“the Montenegran artist” uses an uppercase M.

Spanish nouns that start with M

These are some Spanish nouns that start with M. When nouns refer to people, they sometimes change grammatical gender (see the nouns marked with the “/a” ending).

  • Macedonia del Norte: North Macedonia
  • Madagascar: Madagascar
  • Maestro: teacher
  • Maíz: corn
  • Malasia: Malaysia
  • Malawi: Malawi
  • Maldivas: Maldives
  • Malta: Malta
  • Malí: Mali
  • Mano: hand
  • Mapa: map
  • Maquillaje: makeup
  • Maquinista: train driver; engineer
  • Mar: sea
  • Marinero/a: sailor
  • Marruecos: Morocco
  • Máscara: mask
  • Mascota: pet; mascot
  • Material: material
  • Matrícula: registration; license plate
  • Mauricio: Mauritius
  • Mauritania: Mauritania
  • Mecánico/a: mechanic
  • Medias: tights
  • Medicina: medicine
  • Médico: doctor
  • Medida: measurement
  • Medio: middle; medium
  • Melón: melon
  • Memoria: memory
  • Mensaje: message
  • Mercado: market
  • Mesa: table
  • Metal: metal
  • Metro: meter; metro (subway)
  • México: Mexico
  • Micronesia: Federated States of Micronesia
  • Miedo: fear
  • Miel: honey
  • Miembro: member
  • Milagro: miracle
  • Millón: million
  • Minuto: minute
  • Mirada: gaze
  • Misión: mission
  • Modelo: model
  • Moldavia: Moldova
  • Momento: moment
  • Mónaco: Monaco
  • Mongolia: Mongolia
  • Mono: monkey
  • Montaña: mountain
  • Montenegro: Montenegro
  • Monumento: monument
  • Morado: purple
  • Mosca: fly (insect)
  • Moto: motorcycle
  • Móvil: cell phone
  • Movimiento: movement
  • Mozambique: Mozambique
  • Moño: bun; bow
  • Mujer: woman
  • Mundo: world
  • Museo: museum
  • Música: music
  • Myanmar: Myanmar
Spanish nouns that start with M examples
En el mercado de Marruecos, compramos miel, probamos melón, y hablamos con un marinero sobre su viaje a Malí. [In the market in Morocco, we bought honey, tasted melon, and spoke with a sailor about his trip to Mali.]

El maestro mostró un mapa de Madagascar, habló sobre la historia de Malasia y explicó la misión del proyecto. [The teacher showed a map of Madagascar, talked about the history of Malaysia, and explained the mission of the project.]

Spanish verbs that start with M

You may notice there are many Spanish verbs that start with M that have negative meanings. This is because “mal” means “bad” in Spanish and is used as the prefix for many words. Some Spanish verbs that start with M are:

  • Macerar: to macerate; to tenderize; to marinade
  • Machacar: to crush; to grind
  • Machar: to beat; to crush
  • Magnetizar: to magnetize; to hypnotize
  • Magnificar: to magnify
  • Magullar: to batter, to bruise
  • Majar: to crush; to mash
  • Malbaratar: to squander
  • Malcriar: to spoil; to bring up badly
  • Maldecir: to curse; to speak ill
  • Malear: to ruin; to damage
  • Maleficiar: to harm; to cast an evil spell on
  • Malgastar: to waste; to squander
  • Malherir: to gravely wound
  • Malinterpretar: to misinterpret
  • Malograr: to ruin; to spoil
  • Maltratar: to mistreat; to abuse
  • Mamar: to suck; to nurse; to drink
  • Manar: to flow
  • Mancar: to maim; to cripple
  • Manchar: to stain; to smudge
  • Mancomunar: to unite; to combine
  • Mandar: to send; to command
  • Manejar: to drive; to handle; to manage
  • Manejarse: to handle yourself
  • Manipular: to manipulate; to handle
  • Manosear: to grope; to paw
  • Maquillar: to apply makeup (to someone)
  • Maquillarse: to put on makeup (oneself)
  • Maquinar: to plot; to scheme
  • Maravillar: to amaze
  • Maravillarse: to be amazed
  • Marcar: to mark; to dial; to indicate
  • Marchar: to march
  • Marcharse: to go away; to leave
  • Masticar: to chew
  • Matar: to kill
  • Materializar: to materialize
  • Matizar: to nuance; to tinge
  • Matricular: to enroll; to register
  • Matricularse: to enroll oneself
  • Mecer: to rock; to sway
  • Mediar: to mediate; to intercede
  • Medicar: to medicate
  • Medir: to measure
  • Meditar: to meditate; to consider
  • Mejorar: to improve
  • Mejorarse: to recover
  • Memorizar: to memorize
  • Mencionar: to mention
  • Mendigar: to beg
  • Menear: to shake; to stir; to wiggle
  • Menstruar: to menstruate
  • Mentir: to lie
  • Merecer: to merit; to deserve
  • Merendar: to snack (in the afternoon)
  • Meter: to put in, to insert
  • Meterse: to get involved; to go into
  • Mezclar: to mix
  • Militarizar: to militarize
  • Mimar: to pamper; to spoil
  • Minimizar: to minimize
  • Mirar: to look at; to watch
  • Mirarse: to look at oneself
  • Mitigar: to mitigate; to alleviate
  • Moderar: to moderate, to restrain
  • Modernizar: to modernize
  • Modificar: to modify
  • Mojar: to wet
  • Mojarse: to get wet
  • Moldear: to mold; to shape
  • Moler: to grind
  • Molestar: to bother
  • Monopolizar: to monopolize
  • Montar: to mount; to ride
  • Morder: to bite
  • Mordisquear: to nibble
  • Morir: to die
  • Motivar: to motivate
  • Mover: to move (something)
  • Moverse: to move (oneself)
  • Movilizar: to mobilize
  • Mudar: to change; to shed or molt (animals)
  • Mudarse: to move house; to relocate
  • Multar: to fine
  • Multiplicar: to multiply
  • Murmurar: to murmur
  • Mutilar: to mutilate
Spanish verbs that start with M examples
Después de malinterpretar el mensaje, el político intentó modificar su discurso, pero terminó molestando al público y no logró mitigar la tensión. [After misinterpreting the message, the politician tried to modify his speech but ended up bothering the audience and failed to mitigate the tension.]

Antes de la protesta, los líderes decidieron movilizar a la comunidad, motivar a los jóvenes, y manifestar su desacuerdo frente al ayuntamiento. [Before the protest, the leaders decided to mobilize the community, motivate the youth, and protest in front of city hall.]

Other Spanish words that start with M

Some Spanish adverbs that start with M are:

  • Mal: bad; badly
  • Malamente: badly; hardly
  • Maliciosamente: maliciously
  • Más: more
  • Más allá: beyond
  • Más bien: rather; more like
  • Más o menos: more or less; about
  • Mayormente: mostly; mainly
  • Mejor: better; might as well
  • Mejor dicho: in other words; or rather
  • Menos: less
  • Mentalmente: mentally
  • Meramente: merely; only
  • Meticulosamente: meticulously
  • Misteriosamente: mysteriously
  • Moralmente: morally
  • Mutuamente: mutually
  • Muy: very
  • Muy bien: very good

Some prepositions and prepositional phrases that start with M in Spanish are:

  • Más allá de: beyond
  • Mediante: by means of; through
  • Menos: except; but for

There are also a few subordinating conjunctions that start with M in Spanish:

  • Mas: but; else
  • Más: plus
  • Menos que: less than

Finally, me (me, to me) is a commonly used direct object pronoun in Spanish and an indirect object pronoun in Spanish that starts with M.

    For more information about how these Spanish words that start with M work, ask QuillBot’s AI Chat.

    Spanish words with other letters

    If you’re looking for Spanish words that start with another letter, you can visit one of our other articles.

    Spanish words with A Spanish words with F Spanish words with K Spanish words with Q Spanish words with V
    Spanish words with B Spanish words with G Spanish words with L Spanish words with R Spanish words with W
    Spanish words with C Spanish words with H Spanish words with N Spanish words with S Spanish words with X
    Spanish words with D Spanish words with I Spanish words with O Spanish words with T Spanish words with Y
    Spanish words with E Spanish words with J Spanish words with P Spanish words with U Spanish words with Z

     

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    Kate Santoro, BS

    Kate has a BS in journalism. She has taught English as a second language in Spain to students of all ages for a decade. She also has experience in content management and marketing.