Portuguese has a reputation for being emotionally nuanced, and Brazilian Portuguese in particular has spawned some wonderfully quirky and poetic words that don’t travel neatly into English. Here are some of them.
Anteontem
The day before yesterday.
Cafuné
To run fingers tenderly through someone’s hair. An everyday intimacy Brazilians name and celebrate.
Calorenta(o)
Someone who is always feeling hot or complaining about the heat. The opposite word for sensitivity to cold is Friorenta(o).
Desbundar
To let loose, to shed inhibitions, to go wild with joy and freedom. A liberation word.
Desenrascanço
The Portuguese knack for wriggling out of trouble with improvised fixes. Similar to the colloquial English verb to MacGyver – from the eponymous TV show.
Fado
Both “fate” and the name of Portugal’s mournful music. Carries the weight of inevitability, destiny and longing.
Farol baixo
Literally “low beam headlights” – but colloquially a subtle way of saying someone looks tired or unwell.
Gambiarra
The Brazilian art of makeshift solutions. Creative, scrappy and not always safe – but it works.
Gostoso
A word for something or someone delicious, pleasurable or sensually enjoyable. Can describe food, music or even a person.
Lusco-fusco
The twilight hour. A soft, musical word for the in-between light of dusk.
Malandro(a)
A roguish mix of charm, cunning, and rule-bending survival. The malandro is a trickster who gets by without hard work.
Migué
Brazilian slang for pretending – making excuses, faking illness or feigning effort. A subtle art of avoidance.
Puxadinho
A makeshift home extension, often improvised without permits. A symbol of Brazilian adaptability, humour and survival.
Saudade
The famous Portuguese word for a deep, bittersweet longing. More than nostalgia, it is the ache of something absent yet cherished.
Tosco
Rough, crude, or clumsy – but sometimes endearingly so. Applied to things, jokes, or behaviour.
Xodó
A darling, a treasure, someone or something adored with tenderness. Frequently used as a pet name.
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References
dictionary.com/e/portuguese-terms
caminhoslanguages.com/blog/portuguese-words-cant-be-translated
portuguesepod101.com/blog/2019/06/28/untranslatable-portuguese-words
reddit.com/r/Portuguese/comments/jpcmmp/words_that_we_dont_have_in_english
Video: "10 words in PORTUGUESE that don't exist in ENGLISH ", Virginia from Speaking Brazilian, 2019
