A Spaniard is a person from Spain, the country that occupies most of the Iberian Peninsula in southwestern Europe. When you meet someone from Madrid, Barcelona, or any other Spanish city, you're meeting a Spaniard.

Spain has played an enormous role in world history. Spanish explorers like Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan led some of history's most famous voyages of discovery. For centuries, Spain built a vast empire across the Americas, the Philippines, and other regions. The Spanish language, now spoken by over 500 million people worldwide, spread through these historical connections.

Today's Spaniards are citizens of a modern European country known for its art, architecture, and culture. Spain gave the world artists like Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí, writers like Miguel de Cervantes (who wrote Don Quixote), and distinctive traditions like flamenco dancing. When you use the word Spaniard, you're referring specifically to someone's nationality: their citizenship in Spain. A person from Mexico or Argentina may speak Spanish, but they're Mexican or Argentine, not Spanish or a Spaniard.