Spanish Lock Vocabulary for English Speakers in Alicante

Around one in five people living in Alicante holds a foreign nationality, according to INE figures for 2025. Most of them, sooner or later, stand in a hardware shop or read a quote from a community administrator and meet a word about locks they have never seen. This is the glossary we wish everyone had.

The lock and its parts

Spanish	In English	What it means in practice
Cerradura	Lock	The whole mechanism inside or on the door.
Bombín (or cilindro)	Cylinder	The part your key goes into. The part that wears and the part usually replaced.
Pestillo	Bolt	The bar that shoots into the frame when you turn the key.
Resbalón	Latch	The angled tongue that clicks shut when you pull the door to. A door “on the latch” is cerrada con resbalón.
Cerradero	Keeper, strike plate	The plate on the frame the bolt and latch go into.
Escudo (or escudo de seguridad)	Escutcheon, guard plate	The plate around the cylinder on the outside. A security one stops the cylinder being gripped or snapped.
Manilla / pomo	Handle / knob
Mirilla	Peephole

Kinds of door and lock

Spanish	In English	What it means in practice
Puerta blindada	Armoured door	A door with a steel sheet or frame inside a timber finish, usually with several bolts. Very common in Spanish flats.
Puerta acorazada	Security door	Heavier than blindada: a steel structure throughout.
Cerradura multipunto	Multipoint lock	Locks at several points along the edge of the door at once.
Cerradura de sobreponer	Surface-mounted lock	Screwed onto the face of the door rather than set inside it; common on gates and storerooms.
Portal	Street door of the building	Belongs to the community, not to you (see our guide to communal doors).
Corredera	Sliding door	Most terrace doors.

Words on packaging

Spanish	In English	What it protects against
Antibumping	Anti-bump	A filed “bump key” knocking the pins open.
Antiganzúa	Anti-pick	Lock picking.
Antitaladro	Anti-drill	Drilling through the pins.
Antirrotura / antiextracción	Anti-snap / anti-extraction	The cylinder being snapped or pulled out.
Llave de seguridad	Security key	A key system that cannot be copied without a card or authorisation.

Phrases worth knowing

• Me he quedado fuera. I am locked out.
• La llave se ha roto dentro. The key has broken in the lock.
• La cerradura no gira. The lock will not turn.
• La puerta no cierra. The door will not close (or lock).
• Han forzado la puerta. Someone has forced the door.

You do not need any of these to call us: the whole conversation can be in English. But they help when you are talking to a neighbour, a landlord or the building’s administrator. And if you want to know how each kind of door is opened, that is explained on its own page.

All guides for Alicante