People’s first reaction when learning about swear words in a new language is always caught up in a weird mix of excitement and uneasiness. It is like being offered an insight on the dirty little secrets of a community. Nevertheless, learning the Portuguese slang words (particularly Portuguese bad words) is extremely useful, not only because it is part of the Portuguese daily life and communication exchanges, but because it is part of the Portuguese culture.
In Portugal, it is common to hear people cursing in the old neighborhoods, and bad words are often a commercial strategy of some sellers in the traditional markets. A good example of this are the peixeiras (ladies who sell fish and vegetables). They like to shout loudly in order to draw people’s attention.
On the other hand, it is also useful to know how to react when people start to insult you in the middle of the street, which can happen sometimes in unexpected situations and places (like in every other country in the world).
In this article, however, we will only give you a general overview of the Portuguese swear words, their meaning (in English) and how to pronounce them correctly. How you should react if you are being sworn at, now, is entirely up to you. You can choose to ignore it… Or learn the following list by heart and throw it at the face of the ******* who dared insulting you.
Here is an extensive list of Portuguese bad words, its meaning, translation into English, and an audio file. You can hear a Portuguese native speaker from Porto (they are known to be the fondest and most proficient users of bad words in Portugal) pronouncing them.
| Bad word in Portuguese | Bad word in English | Meaning (in what context you use it) | Audio |
| broche/ bobo | blowjob | ||
| cabra/ cabrão | fucker, bastard | cabra (feminine) cabrão (masculine) | |
| caralho | fuck | the same meaning as “foda-se” | |
| chupa-mos | suck’em | ||
| enrabar | to fuck in the ass | ||
| filho da puta | son of a bitch | ||
| foda | a fuck | ||
| foda-se | fuck | when you hurt yourself or you’re in a difficult situation | |
| foder | to fuck | ||
| merda | shit | ||
| mijar | to piss | ||
| minete/ mamada | swear word for oral sex on a woman | ||
| monte de merda | piece of shit | ||
| olho do cu | asshole | ||
| peido | fart | ||
| piroca, pila, piça, caralho | cock, dick, penis | ||
| pito, cona, pachacha, rata | pussy | ||
| pixota | cock, dick, penis | ||
| porra | shit | It’s softer way of saying “merda” | |
| puta | bitch, whore | bad way of saying prostitute | |
| puta que pariu | holy shit | ||
| rego do cu | ass crack | ||
| vaca | cow | ||
| vai para o caralho, vai-te foder, vai apanhar no cu | go fuck yourself | when you’re angry with someone |
The goal of this article is not to insult or to encourage people to use bad words, but to publish Portuguese vocabulary that can be useful when you interact with a Portuguese native speaker. We apologize if someone feels insulted by these words or if minors found access to this information. All the information on this article is published for didactic reasons, following the rules, values and goals of Portuguese Connection, as a Portuguese language school.
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