borrar

The everyday verb for erasing or deleting — borrar una palabra, borrar un archivo, borrar el pizarrón. Used constantly across contexts from a literal pencil eraser to deleting a file or a memory (borrar de la memoria).

• Borra esa palabra, está mal escrita. — Erase that word, it's misspelled.
• Borré el archivo sin querer. — I accidentally deleted the file.
• Trató de borrar el recuerdo de su mente. — He tried to erase the memory from his mind.

Learners sometimes reach for eliminar for digital deletion — borrar is the everyday, natural verb for deleting a file, message, or app, while eliminar sounds slightly more formal/technical.

• expression "Borrón y cuenta nueva" — A widely used fixed expression meaning 'clean slate' / 'let's start fresh.' Borrón (a blot or smudge) comes directly from borrar, and the phrase's traditional origin traces to old accounting or manuscript practice, where a mistake — a borrón — meant starting the entry over on a fresh page.