echar de menos

Originally an archaic Galician–Portuguese idiom, "achar (de) menos" (to feel an absence, lit. to find less of anything), entering in Spanish as "echar (de) menos" (mistaking G–P "achar", to find (Sp. "hallar"), with Sp. "echar", to throw, both verbs pronounced similarly and both of them with a multitude of idioms), note that "echar de menos" means lit. (in Sp.) "to throw less (of expected) of anything".

echar de menos

1. (idiomatic) To miss; to feel the absence of.
   • 2005, El Zahir, Paulo Coelho, translated from Portuguese to Spanish by Ana Belén Costas

     —¿Echas de menos tener hijos?

     —No ha sucedido, ¿verdad? ¿Cómo puedo echar de menos algo que no ha sucedido?

     Translation: Do you miss having children?/It hasn't happened, right? How can I miss something that hasn't happened?

   Synonyms: echar en falta, extrañar

• see echar