amatar

An archaic form of matar (to kill), found in older texts and some rural or regional folk speech but not standard modern Spanish. Contemporary writing uses matar exclusively.

• El romance antiguo cuenta cómo el caballero amató al dragón. — The old ballad tells how the knight slew the dragon.
• En el habla rural todavía se oye amatar en vez de matar. — In rural speech, amatar can still be heard instead of matar.
• El texto arcaico usa amatar donde hoy diríamos matar. — The archaic text uses amatar where today we would say matar.

Using amatar in everyday modern writing — matar is the only form a contemporary reader expects; amatar reads as either archaic or a spelling mistake.

Often confused with matar.