fantástico

Fantástico is an adjective used in Spanish and Portuguese to describe something extraordinary, marvelous, or imaginary. In everyday speech it can express admiration or astonishment, as in “una película fantástica” or “un paisaje fantástico.” The feminine forms are fantástica and fantásticas, respectively. Beyond everyday use, the term also designates a literary and artistic register associated with wonder, wonderment, or the supernatural.

Etymology and sense: Fantástico derives from Latin phantomasticus, via Old French fantastique, with roots in Greek phantastikos, from phantasma “image, apparition.” The sense ranges from real excellence or impressiveness to the imagined or supernatural, depending on context.

In literature and criticism: The phrase lo fantástico (the fantastic) is a theoretical category in Spanish-language literary studies, and its Portuguese counterpart is gênero fantástico or literatura fantástica. The most influential articulation of the concept comes from Tzvetan Todorov, who argued that the fantastic involves hesitation within the narrative about whether events are natural or supernatural. In this view, the reader experiences uncertainty and suspends disbelief, rather than resolving events as either purely realistic or purely miraculous. Distinctions are sometimes drawn with lo real maravilloso (the marvelous within realism) and with broader conceptions of fantasy or magical realism.

Modern usage: In contemporary Spanish and Portuguese, fantástico often functions as a broad positive evaluation meaning high quality or impressive, while in literary and cultural contexts it signals a genre or mode that blends ordinary reality with extraordinary or impossible elements. It remains a flexible term used across criticism, media, and everyday language.

See also: fantasy literature, magical realism, realismo mágico, Todorov, literary genres.