Meaning
In Puerto Rico, zafacón means a trash can, garbage bin, or waste container.
How it is used
ASALE defines zafacón as a container for rubbish in Puerto Rico and several other regions. Discover Puerto Rico specifically teaches zafacón = trash can as everyday Boricua vocabulary useful to visitors.
Examples
- “Bota la botella en el zafacón.”
- “El zafacón está al lado de la puerta.”
Pronunciation
/safaˈkon/ · sah-fah-KOHN
Tone and register
Neutral and ordinary. This is practical household and public-space vocabulary rather than socially marked slang.
Visitor guidance
Visitors can use zafacón naturally for a trash can in Puerto Rico. The regional label matters because basurero, cubo de basura, bote de basura, papelera, and other terms are preferred elsewhere.
Cultural context
Zafacón shows why useful regional dictionaries need mundane words as well as famous slang. A visitor asking where to throw something away benefits more from this everyday lexical difference than from learning a performative catchphrase.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.