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Brazilian Portuguese Vocabulary: Dengue and Dengoso

Brazilian Portuguese Vocabulary: Dengue and Dengoso

posted on October 18, 2014

Brazilian Portuguese Vocabulary: Dengue, Dengoso

What does a pest, a feeling, a dwarf, and bossa nova have in common? I know you were wondering the same thing, so I’ll go ahead and tell you. ; )

Late in September, news came out about how Brazil had released so-called good mosquitos to fight dengue fever. Researchers let thousands of the normally annoying pests, infected with a dengue-fighting bacteria, go free in an effort to shift the winds of the disease. The hope is that this new breed of mosquito will become the majority and put an end to reported cases in Brazil, 3 million and rising just in the last 5 years. Here is a Reuters’ video about this:

The word dengue is thought to come from a Swahili phrase Ka-Dingo pepo which describes a disease caused by an evil spirit.

In Brazil, the word has taken on its own secondary meaning and derivatives. Dengue, being the same as denguice, is something with a dengoso quality, or one who does dengo. Someone who is dengoso is said to be whiny, finical, dainty, coy or fussy. They’re also said to enjoy affection, as a child or a cat would (see image above). The lovely Elis Regina even did a delightful song about it which you can find below. The song has several of the words that I have just mentioned here. You will find the lyrics here.

The word dengoso is also familiar to Brazilians: It is the name of one of the Sete Anões, or Seven Dwarves (from Snow White fame). In English, Dengoso is Bashful. In Brazilian Portuguese, however, if you wanted to say someone is bashful, it’s best to use tímido or even acanhado (shy, timid, reserved). Since this blog post is all about making connections between one thing and another, I’ll also say that as a verb, especially a reflexive one, acanhar(-se) can be used interchangeably with envergonhar-se (to be ashamed).

Names of the Seven Dwarves in English and Portuguese
Os Sete Anões = The Seven Dwarves

Getting back to the Seven Dwarves, for the music lovers out there, I discovered that the same person who dubbed Bashful also was the first to record Garota de Ipanema: Pery Ribeiro.

 

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About Adam Lee

Adam is a writer and a researcher who has studied Brazilian culture for over a decade and created several Brazil-themed blogs going back to 2008. Having taught himself Portuguese, he put it to practical use by spending three years doing Brazil on a budget (and living in favelas), from Rio de Janeiro to the Amazon.

He now resides in Lisbon, Portugal, developing a startup and dreaming about having a beachside B&B in the Northeast of Brazil.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Elisabete

    July 19, 2020 at 9:45 pm

    actually, the word is dengo (and not dengue, as the disease). we also use it as a verb: dengar. regards from brazil.

    Reply
    • Luciana Lage

      July 20, 2020 at 4:36 pm

      We use the word Dengo in general, I agree with you. With that said, the dictionary has Dengue as a synonym of Dengo.

      Aurélio dictionary says the following:

      Dengue: 1) Denguice. 2) Birra ou choradeira de criança; dengo. 3) Virose transmitida por picada de mosquito do gênereo Aedes.

      Reply
  2. rodrigo

    August 12, 2016 at 12:21 pm

    English – Portuguese Musics

    http://www.letras10.com

    Reply

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