airear

To air something out physically — airear una habitación, to let fresh air into a room — and figuratively, to make private matters public, as in the fixed expression airear los trapos sucios (to air one's dirty laundry). Both senses are common in everyday Spanish.

• Abrió las ventanas para airear la casa. — She opened the windows to air out the house.
• No hace falta airear nuestros problemas en público. — There's no need to air our problems in public.
• Salió a airearse un rato después de estudiar tanto. — He went out to get some fresh air after studying so much.

Confusing airear with the unrelated airar (to anger) despite the near-identical spelling — airear is about air/publicity, airar is about rage; context almost always makes clear which is meant, but the two are easy to mix up on paper.

Often confused with airar.

• expression "Airear los trapos sucios" — A widely documented fixed expression meaning to make private disputes or flaws public — the Spanish counterpart to English's "to air one's dirty laundry," traced to the custom of washing clothes at communal rivers and laundries where private family matters would spill into gossip.