rastrear
verbCEFR B2
What does “rastrear” mean in English?
to trace, to track
to trace, to track (rastrear — follow a trail to find origin or location)
Example sentences
Los investigadores rastrearon el origen del brote hasta un mercado local donde las condiciones sanitarias eran deficientes.
Investigators traced the outbreak to a local market where sanitary conditions were poor.
El software permite rastrear en tiempo real la ubicación de cada vehículo de la flota.
The software allows the real-time tracking of the location of every vehicle in the fleet.
Los auditores rastrearon las transferencias bancarias durante tres años para reconstruir el rastro del dinero.
The auditors tracked the bank transfers over three years to reconstruct the money trail.
How to use it
Rastrear means 'to trace', 'to track', or 'to scan'. It implies following a trail — investigative, digital, or literal. Key collocations: rastrear el origen (trace the origin), rastrear el movimiento (track movement), rastrear datos (scan/track data). At B2, the investigative and technological senses are central. Near-synonyms: seguir la pista (follow the trail — more idiomatic), localizar (locate — result-focused), monitorear (monitor — ongoing observation).
Common mistake
Rastrear (trace/track — active investigation process) vs. localizar (locate — find the endpoint). Rastrear describes the process of following a trail; localizar describes the outcome of finding something. In digital contexts, rastrear datos is used for data tracking/scraping, which is close to the English 'trace' and 'track' both.