Pesadilla con tu álbum Panini del mundial

What does “figuritas” mean in Spanish?

Figuritas (literally “little figures”) are the stick-in collectible stickers of a sticker album, the World Cup Panini craze being the classic case. The catch for learners is that the word is fiercely regional: it is figuritas in Argentina and the River Plate, but cromos in Spain, estampas or monitos in Mexico, and láminas in Colombia and Chile. Same shiny sticker, four or five different words depending on where you are.

The collector’s vocabulary travels with it: a repetida (or repe) is a double you can trade, and you intercambias (swap) it for one que te falta — one you still need. The book itself is the álbum and a packet of stickers is a sobre. Pick the regional word that matches the speaker: an Argentine fills an álbum de figuritas; a Spaniard, an álbum de cromos.