Tortuga

[DailyWord]

This is a discussion thread for the Daily Spanish Word (http://daily.tomisimo.org/) for July 25, 2008

tortuga - feminine noun (la) - turtle. Look up tortuga in the dictionary (http://www.tomisimo.org/dictionary/spanish_english/tortuga)

Las tortugas son reptiles que pueden ser muy grandes o muy pequeñas.
Turtles are reptiles that can be very large or very small.

[Alfonso]

Caminamos a paso de tortuga / de caracol.
Más lento que una tortuga.

[Jane]

Does tortuga describe both turtle and tortoise, or are there different names for them?

[poli]

Does tortuga describe both turtle and tortoise, or are there different names for them?
A Latin American that I have had this conversation with informed me that
the tortugas are big sea turtles. Tortouses are jicoteas or morrocoyos.
At least in the Caribbean, it would be wrong to call a tortoise a tortuga.

[Alfonso]

Tortuga y galápago are the most often names for turtle and tortoise.