Chica de tienda se vuelve viral en una noche

What does “madrugada” mean in Spanish?

English fumbles with “the wee hours”; Spanish has a real word: la madrugada, the stretch between midnight and sunrise. De madrugada means during those hours, and clock times switch over too — 3 a.m. is las tres de la madrugada, not de la mañana. The word even comes with its own verb: madrugar, “to get up very early.”

The clip is one lonely madrugada that paid off: “Estoy sola en la caja de la tienda, de madrugada” — and by morning, fifty-five thousand new followers. The verb stars in a famous proverb: No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano — getting up earlier won’t make the sun rise sooner. Good things, however, come to el que madruga.