Portuguese profanity

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Profanity in the Portuguese language – words and phrases considered vulgar, blasphemous, inflammatory or offensive – can be divided into several categories. Many are used as insults, and all express the utterer's annoyance. Considerable differences are found among varieties of Portuguese, such as those in Portugal and in Brazil.

Overview

The most common words of Portuguese profanity, the ones universally used in the different dialects and variants of Portuguese, originated from Latin radicals, as well from other Indo-European sources and are usually cognate with peninsular Spanish profanity.[citation needed] There are also Portuguese curse words that originated from South American Amerindian or West and Central African languages; these are found in other Portuguese speaking countries than Portugal, like Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola or Mozambique even though some of these non-Indo-European-originated ones made it to enter the peninsular Portuguese.

In the case of Brazil, several neologistic curse words were borrowed not only from Amerindian or African languages but also from Italian, German or French, due to the Italian and Central-European immigration to Brazil in the late 19th century and due to the fact French used to be a lingua franca for intellectual Brazilians and Brazilian international diplomacy in the past. While the Spanish language abounds in blasphemous interjections, Portuguese lacks in this regard.[1]

Portuguese profanity, just like in any other Western language, is much marked by its sexist character.[citation needed] Words that refer to male homosexuality and female sexuality in general, and even the ones referred to the female genitalia, are the ones mostly adopted as inflammatory words while the ones that refer to heterosexual male sexuality are used as positive adjectivations. Scatological terms are used either with negative and positive meaning, depending on the context in which they are used.

Profanities in Portuguese are referred as profanidades, impropérios, baixo calão, obscenidades, vulgaridades. Palavrão means literally big word which can be translated in bad or ugly word, and dizer/falar palavrões (to say/ to talk) is to use obscene language. Praguejar (Portugal) and Xingar (Brazil) is to swear, to curse.

List

Here is a list of the most common profanity Portuguese words:

Excrement

  • Amarelar, arregar: from color yellow, associated with intestinal troubles. Show cowardice, lack of fighting spirit, to quit.
  • Cagada: past participle of "cagar" (to shit). From Latin cacare, meaning to the act of evacuate feces, or to the feces themselves quite after being evacuated.

As a curse word, it may have completely different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. A cagada can mean either a very lousily done job (“your artwork is a cagada”) or a big strike of luck (“Man, four aces, what a cagada!”), or the well matching result of a measurement taken by guess or naked eye (“He didn’t do the structural calculation for this column, he did it in the cagada”).

“Embostelhada” is a less offensive term to designate something that went wrong[citation needed].

  • Cagar (also dar um cagão, Teta, malmerizar, soltar um barro/barrão/barroso, descarregar a carga{fact} = To take a dump. Fazer cocô/ caca = poop, doo doo; less offensive, even childish. Borrar-se/ borrar as calças/ Cagar nas calças = To shit your pants, being scared.
  • Merda: Literally shit, vulgar word for feces. Lousy job or workpiece; disagreeable situation, confusion, fiasco; stupid or incompetent person.
  • Titica: bird's feces, used as in ter titica na cabeça to be a shithead.
  • Caganita: animal feces.
  • Merdimbuca: (archaic) A contraction of the expression “merda em boca” (shit on mouth), it used, during the Middle Ages, to be one of the most aggressive profanities in Portugal.
  • Mijada: past participle of Mijar, to 'piss'. Vulgar terms for urination and to urinate. Severe reprehension.
  • Mijão or Cagão/Cagada: pisser. Said of cowards. Also used to call someone lucky.
  • Peidar To fart. From Latin pedere, to break wind. Peido/Pum, the fart. Bufa, a weak fart. Other verbs are soltar pum, punzar, bufar, soltar bufa, dar um gás, soltar um gasinho. Peidorreiro, Flatulento, Gasoso, Gaseiro, Gasoduto, Peidador debaixo da colcha, Peidão noturno, farter, midnight farter.

Mental Capacity

  • Estúpido: idiot, stupid.
  • Idiota: same as 'Estúpido'.
  • Imbecil: imbecile person.
  • Cretino: cretin.
  • Bobo (in Brazil; diminutive bobinho, aumentative bobão): silly, fool, dummy, simpleton.
  • Boboca: same as bobo.
  • Bocó: literally puppet. A person without opinion, a fool. Also bocó de mola.
  • Boquiaberto: literally "open mouth". Fool.
  • Tolo: fool.
  • Tonto (diminutive tontinho, aumentative tontarrão): Literally "dizzy". Fool.
  • Palhaço, palhaça, palhação, clóvis, mó comédia, bobo-da-corte, bufão, truão, maninelo, bufon, histrião, mimo – assclown, buffoon.
  • Maluco, Estouvado, Leviano, Irresponsável, Cabeça-de-vento, Doidivanas, Detraqué – crazy, irresponsible.
  • Doido varrido, Doente-mental, Demente, Aloprado, Abilolado, Amalucado - crazy, mentally ill.
  • Otário, Tanso, Beócio, Aparvalhado, Atoleimado, Atolado, Atolambado, Paspalho, Palerma, Pateta, Pasmado, Pacóvio, Patola, Parvo, Palúrdio, Paspalhão, Patego, Pancrácio, Pandorga, Papalvo, Papa-moscas, Pascácio, Patinho, Patola, Patacão, Panaca, Panacão, Basbaque, Babaquara, Songomongo, Tontão, Tongo, Cabaça, Coió, Leseira, Leso, Lesado, Toleirão - fool.
  • Ignaro, Ignorante, Burro, Retardado, Jegue, Jumento, Asno, Intelijegue, Intelijumento - stupid or arrogant person.
  • Totó, Mongolóide, Debilóide, Débil-mental - Mongoloid, retard.
  • Zé-ninguém, João-Ninguém, Zé-mané - Insignificant person, John Doe.
  • Estafermo, Belarmino, Beldroegas, Bangalafumenga, Bolônio, Tchalau, Tchalongo, Tchongo, Soronga, Abobalhado, Dãrdi, Estólido, Néscio, Abestado, Bestunto, Espantalho, Catimbau, Sarambé, Calinada, Molenga, Lerdo – ignoramus, moron, dumbass, retard, dunce, stupid, dork, blockhead, jackass, donkey, ass, dope, numskull, twit, dumbbell, dolt, bonehead, dumb, fathead, pinhead. Cérebro de ameba

Sexist and sexual meaning

  • Ugly women: Canhão: Literally "cannon". Very ugly women. Other words like tribufú, baranga, mocréia, fubanga, bucho, dragão(dragon), jaburu are also used.
  • Homosexual men: Veado The image of a deer (veado) is jocosely associated with young gay males. Bambi, gazela and other terms that relate to deer are also used., Viado. Rumor: in the 19th century/beginning of 20th century, medicine called men who had homosexual behavior as ""deviated from normal behavior"", or in português ""desviado do comportamento normal"". Not confirmed etymology. Paneleiro|Tripeiro (manufacturer of pans) (in Portugal) are slurs for homosexual, roughly equivalents for US English "fag".

Bicha, literally a critter female, is also extensively used in Brazil. Related to French biche and bichette. Boiola, used to designate delicate little boys, young boys working in theatrical sketches and musicals in the late 19th and early 20th century. Now in Brazil is equivalent for the English pansy, sissy or fag. Frutinha, fruta, fadinha, derisive terms for effeminate homosexuals. Fresco, afrescalhado,(literally, fresh) men with stereotypical "gay" behaviour, intonation, etc. Queima-rosca, literally "doughnut burner" (because "rosca", doughnut, is an obscene term for "anus", which supposedly "burns" with attrition during penetration): homosexual male bottom. Mariquinha(s), marica(s), pussy, pansy, from Ancient Greek "Marikas", a Eupolis comedy. Maricona, slang used by tranvestites to deride non-effeminate johns. Baitola, fag. Morde-fronha, literally "pillowcase biter", passive homosexual. Boqueteiro, chupeteiro, chupador, xupa-rola, sugador: header, cocksucker.

  • Homosexual women: Sapatão, sapatona (Brazil) literally "big shoes" (implying a woman who uses masculine shoes) or fessureira, fufa (Portugal), are the general terms, sometimes contrasted with sandalinha, "little sandals", to differentiate butch and feminine lesbians. Other terms are mulher-macho, marimacho, machona, virago, caminhoneira(trucker). Lesbian sexual relations are derisively called briga de aranhas, "spider fight", or velcro.
  • Corno: Corno, cornudo, chifrudo are equivalent to cuckold. Just like other Romance languages, horns (chifres or cornos) are associated with the act of cheating. Expressions like botar chifre em, pôr chifre em, cornear mean to make a cuckold of. Corno manso is the man who accepts his wife's betrayal.
  • Galinha/Piranhudo/Mandrião/Marombeiro/Casanova/Dom Juan/Garanhão/Mulherengo/Femeeiro/Bordelheiro a promiscuous male, a player, a womanizer, a rogue Babaca/Mané a douchebag, a loser.
  • Broxa a man who doesn't please his woman sexually, an impotent man.
  • Filho da Puta: Latin filius, preposition de plus the feminine article a from the form illa and Vulgar Latin putta. The son of a sexually loose woman or prostitute. Similar to the English “son of a bitch”, “whoreson”, this expression is virtually identical in other romance languages such as Spanish "hijo de puta", Italian "figlio di puttana", Catalan "fill de puta" and French "fils de putain", "fils de pute". Portuguese also have the version "filho duma égua", “son of a mare”, from Latin equa. "Filho da mãe", “son of the mother”, is a more subtle and less profane expression (used as a euphemism and in most TV dubbings).
  • Foder: A verb. It comes from the Latin verb foedere, futuere which means to open holes in the land to seed it. This verb acquired the meaning of “to have sexual intercourse”, being an equivalent for the English “to fuck”. It is also used in the expression “vá-se foder”/”vai-te foder”, which means the same as the English “fuck you” and “go fuck yourself”. The form “foda-se” can be equivalent to “fuck it” or “go fuck yourself” while the expression “(Ah/Oh) Que se foda!” means “fuck it. I don't care”. Due to the use of both the impersonal pronoun "se" and the subjunctive form of the verb, which implies an imperative mood and therefore expresses a wish, the literal meaning of both "foda-se (isto)" and "(quero) que se foda" can therefore be understood as "let it be fucked". It's cognate to the Spanish joder, the Italian fottere and French foutre. In Brazil, this word is sometimes wrongly spelled “fuder” due to its prosody. Foda: the act of fucking, can be a positive or negative adjective. É foda viu?!, that's a wreck! or what the fuck?, now Ele é mó fodão em .../Ele é foda nisso, he's an expert in.../ he's an expert in that, Você é foda! = literally: You are a fuck. Depending on intonation may assume a good or bad connotation like: You are fucking boring, fucking annoying, really obnoxius, you always do everything wrong or You're really great, man, you're awesome dude, you're the best, good as sex. Comer: from Lat. comedere = to eat, used in a sexual connotation; also used in a sexual context are verbs like traçar, enfiar, enrabar, trepar and meter, all equivalent to “to nail, to screw”, nouns trepada, trepança, metida, metelança, fodelança. Transar – Colloquialism, not exactly vulgar, equivalent for “to get laid”. Transa – noun, hook up, laid. Deitar-se com.... Levar ferro, levar pau, ferrar-se – to be screwed. Ferrar, mandar ferro, meter ferro, lascar brasa, mandar pau, meter o pau, sentar o sarrafo, parafusear, rosquear – to screw. Enrabar (Brazil), encular (Portugal) – fuck up the arse (UK), fuck in the ass (US), Lamber o cú, performar cunete, rimming, cuzete, lambiscudinha, beijo grego – ream (US), to perform anilingus, rimming, butt licking, and eating ass (Anilíngua, anilinctio, anilinctus, anilingus). Enrabar, comer o rabo, comer o cú, meter no cú, – To sodomize. Dar a bundinha, tomar no cú, dar o cú, levar no rabo, levar no cú - to be sodomised. Afogar o ganso, molhar o biscoito, torcer a porca, gratinar a berinjela, descabelar o palhaço, escorregar no quiabo, dar a ré no quibe, bater o bife, sentar no colo do capeta – Jocose expressions for laying, getting laid or having anal sex.
  • Punheta: Male masturbation; hand job. Other verbal expressions equivalent to jerk off and jack off are bater punheta; tocar uma; bater uma. Espancar o macaco; descabelar o palhaço; cinco contra um; bater uma bronha; prestar homenagem; bater um amistoso equivalent to spank the monkey. Punheteiro/Onanista/Batedor/Tocador a wanker. Siririca the term for female masturbation.
  • Puta: A slang for prostitute. However, since the curse word puta does not refer only to prostitutes, but to sexually loose women in general (being thus an equivalent to the English word whore), it was argued that this word has a different Latin origin, being actually the past participle of the verb ponere (to put). In such case, the actual meaning for puta should be of someone who was put away, or put aside, certainly in reference to the single young females who were expelled by their parents after losing their virginity[citation needed]. Other words for loose women are biscate, vadia, vagabunda, piranha, gaudéria, pistoleira, lúdica, cadela, cachorra, égua, arrombada, periguete, aventureira, sirigaita. Meretriz, Marafona, Mulher da vida, Mulher de vida fácil, Mulher da rua, Mulher da zona, Mulher pública, Loureira, Rameira, Paloma, Polaca, Quenga, Garota de programa, prostitute.
  • Puteiro/Bordel/Prostíbulo/Zona do baixo meretrício/Zona de Meretrício/Casa da luz vermelha/Casa de tolerância/Alcoice – Cathouse, brothel, bordello, red light district, house of ill repute, sporting house, whorehouse. Lupanar – brothel, Lat. lupānar, from lupa, "she-wolf".
  • Messalina - evil, manipulative woman.
  • avançadinha, vamp, provocadora de homens, provoca-pau, devoradora de homens, vórtice de homens, cocotinha, cocotte
  • Megera/Bruxa/Bruaca/Jararaca/Víbora/Surucucu/Mocréia/Cobra/Fubanga/Geba/Medusa/Górgone/Tarasca/Mal-amada/Mal-comida a bitch, a spiteful, mean, or manipulative female.
  • Sacanagem/Safadeza/Putaria: Immoral behavior or act, obscene act; dirty trick; Tá de sacanagem, marmelada: in a spirit of mockery, derision or deliberate unfairness. Sacanear: To tease, to vex, to irritate maliciously (Provocar, vexar maliciosamente). Tara: A dirty and hide paraphilia, a kinky obsession, a dirty secret perversion. Pular a cerca, trair, chifrar, cornear: – Literally, to jump the fence; to cheat your love partner. Ciscar, galinhar, sair à caça: – To be a player, go hunting, to prowl.

Moral flaws

  • Cafajeste, Canalha, Crápula, Calhorda, Patife, Tratante, Trapaceiro, Embusteiro, Malandro, Mequetrefe, Sacana, Salafrário, Safardana a scumbag, a scoundrel, a rascal, a rogue, a cheater.
  • Cachorro, literally "dog", treacherous man.
  • Bundão/Bunda-mole/Bananão/Frouxo a coward, a lame guy.
  • Mala, Chato, a very annoying and unpleasant person.
  • Babaca – jerk, fucktard
  • Fracassado, Verme, um nada, Zero a esquerda – loser, worm, flop, a nothing.
  • Tosco, Boçal, Bronco, Cavalão, Grosso, Grosseirão, Cavalgadura – Coarse, Crass. A jerk, a prick, scumbag. An idiot or stupid male. An insensitive, selfish, ignorant, cocky man who is inconsiderate and does stupid rude things.
  • porco chauvinista – male chauvinist pig.
  • Valentão, tranca-ruas, pitiboy, traga-mouros, mata-mouros, ferrabrás, bravateador – bully, prick .
  • Cuzão, Cara-de-cú, cara-de-bunda, zé cú,chupa cú - an asshole, fuckface, shithead.
  • Verme – worm

Body parts

  • Vagina: Buceta, diminutive bucetinha or bocetinha, augmentative bucetão, actually a misspelling of boceta, which originally meant a small leather purse or box. It is the rough name for the female genitalia in Brazil, while in Portugal the name most commonly used is cona, from Latin cunnus. The similarity with English cunt is most likely coincidental. The word boceta comes from Provençal bosseta[citation needed] and has the same Latin root as the English partially cognates "box" and "bush" and the French "boîte" and "boussole" (box and compass)[citation needed]. Buceta is semantically equivalent to cunt; as usually in Portuguese, the diminutive tends to be somewhat euphemistic, and the aumentative to be more offensive. Other terms for vagina can be less offensive: xana, xoxota, xibiu, xota, laurinha, ninho de piroca, xereca, tcheca, xeca, cobiçada, perseguida, passarinha, pombinha, pencha, xirana, xirinha, paxuxa, caixinha, piriquita, bacurinha, perereca (roughly equivalent to "pussy"), or conversely, more aggressive: paranho, papuda, xavasca, racha, fenda, Volcarona, Cloyster.
  • Buttocks: Bunda, one of the few African-originated Portuguese profanity words that made it to enter the slang use in the Peninsula, it refers to the whole gluteal regions, the buttocks. The term cu from Lat. culus used to designate the buttocks and anus in Latin, but now in Portuguese it is used to specify the anus. Retaguarda, traseira/o, derrière are equivalent to behind, hindquarters, posterior, rear end, backside. Bumbum = booty or bum. Bunda, rabo, rabinho = ass, butt, tail end. Pandeiro, assento, bonzó, buzanfa, popô, popozão, popozete = keister, arse, buttocks. Poupança = tooshie, tush, fanny.
  • Penis: Caralho: Penis; equivalent to English dick or prick. Greek charax and Latin caraculus. Cognate to the Spanish Carajo. A caralho is originally a nautical term[citation needed], referring to the crow's nest in the top of the mainmast of a caravel. Since it was an ingrate job to patrol the horizon from the crow's nest, the expression “vá para o caralho” (“go to the caralho”) began being used by people to rid of an unwanted peer in an impolite, inflammatory way. Also, caralho turned into a slang for penis as well. Pau, pica (Br), piça (Pt), rola, cacete, verga, vergalhão, prick, ripa, piroca, pistola, trolha, estrovenga, peru, trabuco, nabo, mandioca, benga, jeba, sagatiba, bigola, bilau. Caralho and cacete (stick) can be used as expletives just like "shit", "fuck". They are also used in the expressions do caralho or do cacete, which means "spectacularly good": Meu novo carro é do caralho, "my new car is awesome"; pra caralho, "to the prick", meaning "abundantly, excessively" (doeu pra caralho, "it hurt a lot", tinha comida pra caralho, "there was a lot of food"); casa do caralho (the dick's home), meaning "extremely distant" (Pedro mora na casa do caralho, "Peter lives far, far away".); and caralho de asa (dick with wings) or caralho a quatro ("dick by the four"), used to imply that a long, usually incongruent, list is even longer and more diverse (Tinha pedreiro, garçom, trovador, motorista, pintor, pianista, o caralho a quatro, "There were masons, waiters, troubadours, drivers, painters, pianists, etc.").
  • Anus: : Latin culus, Cognate to similar terms in other Latin languages, like the Italian and Spanish culo and French cul, it literally means anus. It is usually used as in “vá levar no cu” (Portugal) or “vai tomar no cú” or vai tomar no seu cú (Brazil), meaning go take up your ass. Other terms include fiofó, rosca, rosquinha, toba. Also used in the expression no seu cu (in your arsehole), to deride a statement, proposal or demand (No seu cú, que eu vou pagar a conta, "I'm going to pay the bill, in your arsehole" – or in your dreams, or, most likely, not at all.) is also a disagreeable, or excessively small, place (A casa de João é um cú, "John's home is an arsehole", or too small, too hot, and/or stinky).
  • Pentelho: (Pintelho in Portugal) Cognate to the Spanish Pendejo, it means pubic hair, as in the original Latin word penticulus – scientifically the name for genital follicles, which is the strict meaning of this word in the Iberian Peninsula. It is usually used as in "Foi por um pintelho" ("it was by one follicle"), meaning that something almost happened. In Brazilian Portuguese it's also used to refer to an annoying kid or annoying young person while in Hispanic America it refers to annoying –and, obnoxious- people of any ages.
  • Saco: Latin saccus. It literally means sack and relates to the scrotum ("nutsack"). It's majorly used as an expletive for tedious people or tedious jobs or situations, like in "Que saco!" ("What a bore!") or "Fulano é um saco!" ("John Doe bores me to death!"), "Você é um saco!" ("You suck!") In Portugal, the name most commonly used term is Colhões, Latin Cōleōnēs. Escroto (scrotum) may express a "scumbag" or "jerk". Bagos can also be used to designate testicles and it's equivalent to nuts, while the equivalent to balls would be bolas. To note that "saco" is a term used in Brazil and not in Portugal.

Racist

  • Branquelo: Untanned White person. Synonyms are "Leite Azedo" (Sour milk, usually someone who is also unpleasant) and Gasparzinho (a reference to the ghost Casper) or Branca de neve (Snow White).
  • Bife: meaning steak, is a common slur for British people in Portugal. It comes from the color of the "beef", which is the same as the color of a British person after spending some days in Portugal's beaches. It is not considered an offensive term, more of a designation between friends.
  • Bugre: slur used against Native Brazilians.
  • Caipira: this word refers to the people in the Brazilian countryside, their culture, dialect of Portuguese and way of life. May be used in a derogatory way regarding people from the Brazilian hinterland (interior), similarly to the American terms hillbilly and redneck.
  • Carcamano: Slur used against Italians and white Brazilians of Italian ancestry. This word entered the Brazilian Portuguese from the Spanish language, probably via Spaniard immigration to Brazil, and it was adopted to point out a difference between the cultured, educated Portuguese-descended White Brazilian elite and the Italian immigrants to Brazilian plantations, people considered to be rough, illiterate, uneducated and awkward when compared to the first group.
  • Chamuça: Lusitanian slur against people from India, it actually means Samosa.
  • Chinoca: Lusitanian slur against Chinese people. In the south, it is an archaic synonym for prostitute (not specifically Chinese or Asian either).
  • Chucrute: From French choucroute meaning Sauerkraut. Mostly used in Brazil to designate late 19th and early 20th century German immigrants. Fritz/Fritzin/Hans/Klaus/Lars (colloquialism): From German masculine proper names. Not especially polite, but not offensive either. In Portugal, the term Boche, a word derived from French, is popular as a slang term to refer to Germans, nearly always in a derogatory way.
  • Français/Françiu/Frufru/Fanfreluche/Ronronrom: jocose expressions for Frenchmen. According to Gilberto Freyre, in the 19th century, the word for French, francês, was associated with dishonest traders and vendors. Avéc is used in Portugal and can refer to either the French people or, more often, emigrants in France that fit a certain stereotype when returning to Portugal.
  • Galego: A person from Northern Portugal (Porto) or Galicia, which is a region in Northwest Spain. Slur used against both Portuguese and Spaniards in most of Brazil. In northeastern Brazil this word is not a slur and is usually used as colloquially referring to blond haired people. It's uncommon to hear this term in Brazil.
  • Japa: Informal, jocose or a little detrimental form of Japanese (depending on context). It's not uncommon at all to hear this term in Brazil.
  • Macumbeiro: Adept of Macumba, Afro-Brazilian religion; extensive to practitioners of other Afro-Brazilian religions. Sometime used as a racial slur. It's common to hear this term in Brazil.
  • Maloqueiro : Slum dweller (maloca = very poor or improvised habitation), general slur against poor people. Used also against people who dress and act in a very offensive way, usually those who try to emulate American Rappers. Also supporters of Corinthians (São Paulo's soccer team). It's a commonly used term in Brazil.
  • Macaco: Literally, monkey. In the southern half of Brazil, it's a slur against Black people; in Northeast Brazil, it refers to anyone whose profession demands the use of a military-like uniform (policemen, soldiers, armed-forces officers), being the term gorila (gorilla, a bigger monkey, or the leading monkey) a slur for Generals. Highlighting this fact, gorilla was the very curse word used against the Military Dictators of Brazil from 1964 to 1985. Macaco (or, “macaco-de-imitação”) has also the meaning of copycat, i.e. someone who acritically imitates the behaviours of others. Macaco is a somewhat commonly used slur term in Brazil.
  • Monhé: slur against Indian people. It is considered quite offensive. It's a rarely (if ever) used slur term in Brazil.
  • Mouro (Moor): Used in North Portugal as a slur against mostly to the Lisbon people, Algarvians, Alentejans and Andalusians, as well in other Portuguese-speaking countries than Portugal as a slur against Portuguese and Spaniard people as a whole group. It isn't an uncommon slur term in Brazil.
  • Nego: Corrupted form of Negro, slightly more charged than "black" (if so), yet significantly weaker than "nigger" or "nigga". Often used as a term of endearment. Escurinho has the same semantic load as the term "darky". Tição, Tiziu, brand, dark coal and carvão, charcoal are slurs against Black people. It can also be used in a non-offensive way as a slang for friends, along the lines of buddy; someone you are attached to, meaning sweetie, or a random person, even if they are not actually black or dark skinned. "Nego" is a very common endearment/slur-ish term in Brazil (not as common in the whiter South, but still so). The other terms aren't uncommon also.
  • Polaco/a: Pollack. Archaic word for Pole/Polish, now replaced with polonês, still used as a slur against Polish people. Due to the existence of an active traffic of Eastern European women to Brazil to work as prostitutes, the feminine form, polaca is, or was until recently, also used as a synonym for prostitute. In Portugal "Polaco" (or Polaca, in feminine) has absolutelly no slur meaning, it is only used to refer to people from Polonia. The word "Polonês" is not used in Portugal. In Brazil, it can be used as a nickname for any person with a fair complexion ("Alemão" is even more common nickname for blondish, white men). "Polaco" is a somewhat common term in Brazil (especially in the South).
  • Rissol: Lusitanian slur against Russian people. It's a rare (if ever used) slur term in Brazil.
  • Esfiha, Cara-de-esfiha, Cara-de-quibe, Habib: Slurs against Arabs in general, especially people from Syria and Lebanon. It isn't an uncommon slur term in Brazil. It's easier to be taken as a joke than a serious attack.
  • Tupiniquim: An indigenous people of Brazil. Self-ironic or self-deprecating.
  • Ucra: Lusitanian slur referring to Ukrainian people. Note that, in Portugal, words like "Ukrainian", "Romanian" and "Russian" are sometimes used in vague and inaccurate reference to people who appear to be immigrants from any country in Eastern Europe. However, "ucra" can carry both pejorative and affectionate connotations.
  • Urubu, also abutre: disagreeable, ominous, or just unlucky person. Also supporters of Flamengo (football club from Rio de Janeiro).
  • Inscrever os neguinhos na natação (to enroll the black kids in the swimming class), libertar o Mandela (to free Mandela): a racially charged way to tell one is going to defecate.
  • Fazer gordice: to do something wrong.
  • Coisa de branco (something proper of a white person): something good, well made.
  • Preto (macaco)
  • Cigano (ladrão, aldrabão)

See also

References

  1. Margit Raders, Julia Sevilla (eds.) (1993) III Encuentros Complutenses en Torno a la Traducción: 2 - 6 de Abril de 1990 p.36
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