Chupacabras can be literally translated as "goat-sucker", from chupar ("to suck") and cabra ("goat"). It is known as both chupacabras and chupacabra throughout the Americas, with the former being the original word,[4] and the latter a regularization of it. The name in Spanish can be preceded by a singular masculine article (el chupacabras), or the plural masculine article (los chupacabras)