Favorite Words in Portuguese
Posted on 09. Apr, 2009 by Rachel in Learning, Pronunciation
Today’s post is interactive: what’s your favorite word in Portuguese?
For native English speakers, there are a number of words that are a delight to say, or sound funny or interesting to our Anglo ears.
Some examples of my favorite Portuguese words, which all happen to start with “p”:
paralelepípedo (cobblestone) [par-ah-lehl-eh-pee-peh-doh]
pequenininho (very, very small) [peh-que-nee-nee-nyo]
pipoca (popcorn) [pee-poh-kah]
What’s your favorite word in Portuguese?
Eu gosto das palavras…
Sacudir – to shake (commonly used to mean dancing or moving to music)
Vermelho – red (it just sounds good!)
Relax – relax, chill. (pronounced ‘hey-lacks’)
And of course any diminutivezinho at all!!
A minha palavra portuguêsa favorita é “amanhecer”
Favorite words:
Saudades: i love this word in general as it implies so much. there’s just no adequate translation
Beija-flor: hummingbird. its so poetic
As for speaking:
sorriso
Anything with “ão”: Então. Irmão, etc…
sacanagem – dirty trick played upon someone
folgado – slacker
Disculpa pela palavrão, mas minha frase favorita em a língua portuguesa é ‘afogar ao ganzo’
My favorite Portuguese word is papagallo – not sure if that is spelled right but its the
word for parrot.
I like many words because of how they sound. Examples are abacaxi, abacate, e advogado (this last one because of the extra syllable due to the ‘d’ and ‘v’ being adjacent). Also words that others have suggested, like beija-flor e papagaio.
I also like words that are similar to English words, but suggest something a bit different, such as fanático.
Lastly there are words taken from english, but sound completely different in português, such as rock (like hockey) or hip-hop (like ippy-oppy).
Hey, I’m Portuguese, I live in Portugal and personally my favorite word is otorrinolaringologista (otorhinolaringologist) and hipopótamo (hippopotamus).
visit Portugal, we are a small country but we have a lot to discover!
now just for playing a bit, i’ll translate this text to portuguese :
Olá, sou portuguesa, vivo em Portugal e pessoalmente a minha palavra favorita é otorrinolaringologista e hipopótamo
visitem Portugal, somos um país pequeno mas temos muito por descobrir!
I am a fan of “qüinquagésimo” or fiftieth in English.
“jardim” e “coração” eram minhas palavras favoritas na época (que já faz quase 4 anos) que eu começava a aprender português.
E quem não gosta de “saudades”??
“jardim” and “coração” were my favorite words at the time (which is already almost 4 years ago) that I was starting to learn Portuguese.
And who doesn’t like “saudades”??
oi
eu suo brasileira
acho muito legal esse blog
porque por ele posso apreder um pouco de ingles
e a minha palavra faforita é:
oftamologista
coitadinha (poor little thing!)
PIPOCA! For me too. I dunno how but I think I may have heard that word in a song when I just started learning Portuguese, the same year I got my kitten. So…I always called her my pipoca.
But, after 16yrs, she’s no longer around for me to call her that. So whenever I do see that word, I reminisce on my early learning days of the language as well as my cat.
I met a young man from Sweden that loved “analfabeto” ( a person who doesn’t know reading or writing)