plaga

Plaga is a noun used in Spanish with several related senses, most commonly referring to widespread harm or calamity and to outbreaks of pests. It can denote a disaster or scourge affecting people, crops, or communities, and is frequently used in a metaphorical sense to describe troublesome or systemic problems. In agricultural contexts, plaga specifically describes an outbreak of pests or diseases that damages crops, such as una plaga de insectos or una plaga de langostas.

In historical or literary usage, plaga may also refer to a physical wound or lesion, although this sense is less common in modern language and often replaced by palabras like herida or llaga. The term carries a tone of severity and pervasiveness, rather than a single, isolated injury.

Etymology and related terms: plaga comes from Latin plaga, meaning a blow, stroke, wound, or region. The sense shift from a physical act or boundary to a figurative calamity developed over time in Iberian languages. In other languages, the Portuguese cognate praga has similar senses. In English, the closest equivalents are plague or pestilence, though plaga is not commonly used in contemporary English outside of loanwords or proper names.