Portuguese profanity

Profanity in the Portuguese language – words and phrases considered vulgar, taboo, 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

There are 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, East Timor, or Mozambique even though some of these non-Indo-European-originated ones made it to enter the peninsular Portuguese and also some which are origanally from latin.

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.

Scatological and sexual terms, which are both the most common source of swearing, are used either with negative or positive meaning, depending on the context in which they are used (e.g: "foda" may be used in "caralho que foda" which means "bad-ass" but being very vulgar and maybe more appropriately translated as "fucking bad-ass" but it may also be used to indicate something is difficult "é foda fazer tudo isso").

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.

Profanities

Citation note: This section is the one with the biggest lack of iline citation, so please feel free to contribute, be bold but not unreasonable

Similarly to other internationally spoken languages, Portuguese profanities' offensiveness varies with context and geographical location, even within the same country.

Profanity in Portugal

Note: Some profanity mention here isn't exclusively portuguese

In terms of offensiveness Portugal can be divided in two main areas: Northern Portugal and Central-and-Southern Portugal. Northern Portugal tends to be more prone to using curse words as manner of common informal speech with the vast majority of profanities being used as a way of conveying emotion rather than as way of insulting someone. The offensiveness of these words and expressions is thus dependent mainly on the tone and context. The center and south of Portugal, especially in urban areas, tend to have a more polished speech in regards to swear words with such expressions being used primarily with the intention of offending someone or simply as interjections. The Azores use a lot of the same profanity as continental Portugal but also use some unique religiously based phrases.

Sexual related profanities:

• "Badalhoco(a)" (IU, internationally used, meaning it is used in more than one Portuguese-speaking country) is a word to refer to something or someone "dirty". It is similar to the word "nasty" in the sense that it can also be used to refer sexually-promiscuous men and women.
• "Cabrão" male-only term used for men who have cheated.
• "Caralho" (IU) is a swear word for penis and can be used as an interjection. One possible folk etymology relates it to a ship's crow's nest, and the negative connotation from the expression "vai para o caralho", meaning "go to the crow's nest", because of the heavy rocking of ships in the high sea. This theory has since become a widely promulgated urban legend as the sole source of the swear word. The recorded use of caralho in its modern use (as "prick"), however, predates Portuguese caravels, ships with crow's nests.

1. "Pra caralho" means "as fuck" even if using the preposition "pra" which is the result of unsystematic elision targetting "para" which most commonly serves the poupose of "to" or "for" (e.g: "Ele fez isso prà gente" BR-PT Venecular ↔ "He did that for us" Formal\Informal Standard English, "Para fazer isso, bora peida!" BR-PT Venecular ↔ "To do that, let's fart guys" Informal Standard English), as in "Grande para caralho/Big as fuck", and, while being profanity, is rarely insulting.

• "Cona" is equivalent to the words "cunt" and "pussy" in every term possible, both to insult someone, and to describe the female genital organ.
• "Foder" (IU) it is the Portuguese equivalent to "fuck" even though it can't be used the same way as the English adjective "fucking".

1. "Foda-se!" is comparable to the interjection "fuck it!"
2. "Fode-te", "Vai-te foder", or "vá-se foder" means "fuck you".

• "Paneleiro" (IU) is a person who causes a mess, is intentionally disruptive, although it's most commonly used as a homophobic slur.
• "Puta" (IU) is a pejorative term for a prostitute. It can also be used as a deprecatory term to refer to sexually promiscuous women (similar to "slut"). The word "puto" (which would be the male counterpart of "puta" according to Portuguese rules of grammatical gender) does exist, however the meaning is totally different (it is used informally to refer to a young boy or man). In the north of Portugal, "puta" is also used as a common interjection (either positive or negative depending on the context).

1. "Filho da puta" or "Filha da puta" (IU) is equivalent to "son of a bitch" and can be used for both males ("filho") and females ("filha"), it may be replaced by the more cleaner forms "filho da mãe" or "filha da mãe" SON^FEM~MASC-PREP having or causing something (OF/FROM) + DEFINITE ART.-MOTHER
2. " Puta que pariu" PROSTITUTE-GENERAL THING Question word/Prep. CLAUSE EMBEDER-TO GIVE BIRTH TO CHILD^{PAST-3rd Person CONJ. -- Note: may replace equivallent conjugations in veneculars} (IU). It is an interjection and can denote surprise or emotional intensity. The term translates to "whore that has given birth to you", however it is used in situations that normally "son of a whore" is used, and vice versa.

• "Vai-te lixar" (pronounced: leeshar), which means "go sand yourself" as in sand paper, used like "go to hell" or "get out of here".
• "Porra" is in Portugal a fairly mild swear word, but still considered an expletive.The word is in the same category as other "mild" swear words like "caraças", it means "sperm" and is colloquial like the English word "cum" while having significantly more uses then it

Fónix". Porra is usually translated Damn (it).

Scatological related profanities:

• "Cu" (IU) meaning "butt", not close to the range of vulgarity of the English "arse" or "ass" which is rated by Ofcom as "mild language" like "crap" and "cow" as an insult
• "Merda" (IU) is the equivalent to "shit" in every way.
• "Bosta" (IU) is similar to "merda" but with notable less vulgar

Racial profanities:

• Black people. Though there is no equivalent to the word "nigger" (as in a word that is offensive in and of itself), "preto" (literally the color black) is the most used derogatory word for black people. "Negro" is usually considered an amiable alternative, being the most used term in central-and-southern Portugal. In northern Portugal however, "preto" is commonly used without any negative connotations, especially among the younger population, with some few people going as far as to consider "negro" as overzealous political correctness. The offensiveness is thus determined mainly by context. "Negro" is also another word for the color "black".

Exclusive to Brazil

Many of the most used curse words and phrases of Brazilian Portuguese are the same as in European Portuguese. There are exceptions, however:

• "Viado" is a somewhat offensive word used to refer to a homosexual man. It is different from the word "Veado" which means "deer" (possibly because of heightening of [e] to → [i] [ɪ] [ï] ...). It does not exist in European Portuguese, though a smiliar-sounding term "virado" (from the Portuguese verb for "turn around", virar) is not unheard of. Similar phrases, widely used with similar connotations and equally emotionally charged, would be "Larilas" or "Maricas".
• "Bicha" is also a pejorative term for homosexuals and has a similar connotation to "faggot". This is also used in European Portuguese.
• "Corno" has the same meaning and applications as "cabrão". It refers to a man that has been cheated by his partner (female: "Corna"). It is also used in European Portuguese.
• "Sapatão" or even "Sapatona" is a pejorative term for homosexual females.

See also

• Language portal

References

• Ganho, Ana Sofia; McGovern, Timothy. Using Portuguese: A Guide to Contemporary Usage, Cambridge University Press, Mar 18, 2004, ISBN 1139449389</ref>