home

From Portuguese home, denasalized variant of homem.

home-home di hoze


sora

Clipping of Portuguese professora, feminine form of professor.

Sora, ele sempre chubí eu!

Sora, êle dáli eu!


oficina

Presumably from Portuguese oficina, although probably influenced by English office.

tifinâ na oficina

to have lunch at (one's desk at) the office

office (a room used for non-manual work)


filo

filo-di-quim

filo-grándi

filo trás di porta


filo

chuva filo-filo


cadera

From Portuguese cadeira, from Old Galician-Portuguese cadeira, from Vulgar Latin *cathēgra, variant of Latin cathedra, from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra), from κατά (katá, “above”) + ἕδρα (hédra, “chair”).


letrado

From Old Galician-Portuguese leterado, possibly with semantic influence from Spanish letrado.


festa

missa festa


nina

From Portuguese nina, clipping of menina. Possibly a doublet of nhim.


pintura

From Old Galician-Portuguese pintura, from Vulgar Latin *pinctūra, from Latin pictūra. Sense 4 possibly a calque of Cantonese 畫／画 (compare Chinese 上畫／上画 (shànghuà, “(of a movie) to release on screen”, literally “up painting”)), and both senses 3 and 4 may have been influenced by English picture.

cog

Ondi vas já vai gafinhâ estunga pintura?

olâ pintura


bazar

Presumably from Portuguese bazar (“bazaar”), from Italian bazar, from Persian بازار (bâzâr, “market”), from Middle Persian [Book Pahlavi needed] (wʾčʾl /wāzār/, “market”).

der

vai bazar comprâ sôm


paga

From Old Galician-Portuguese paga. Compare Galician paga (“payment; salary”).

quelóra recebê paga

when getting paid (literally, “when receiving the salary”)

Êle têm bôm paga


sium

Possibly from an Afro-Portuguese variant of Portuguese senhor, reduced to *siô, with nasalization taking place by analogy of nhum. Doublet of nhum, via an older form nhom.

Sium Capitám


nhi

Nhi Pancha, passá bem?


friza

freezer (appliance or section of a refrigerator used to store food or other perishable items at temperatures below 0° Celsius)


jinela

nhonha na jinela


cafelo

From dialectal Portuguese cafelo (“first plaster or mortar on a wall”).


sapeca

Apparently Malay sa (“one”) + Malay paku (“thread of one hundred pichi coins”). Originally described a round coppern coin (hence sense 2), with a square hole in the centre, formerly used in China. Term formerly used jocularly to imitate Macanese, however is now the most common term to refer to money, this development possibly being a (relatively old) semantic loan from Cantonese 錢／钱. Compare French sapèque, from the same Malay origin.

com

Iou nôm têm sapeca


mulé

From Portuguese mulher. Compare Kristang mulé.


nhonha

Possibly from Portuguese dona or Malay nyonya or Portuguese senhora. See also Spanish doña (“lady”) and Hokkien 娘惹 (nō͘-niâ) & 娘仔 (niô͘-á, “young lady”).

Coordinate term: nhum

Nhonha canta.


amui

head

amui (plural amui-amui, diminutive amuichai)

amui-amui (plural)
amuichai (diminutive)

Borrowed from Cantonese 阿妹 (aa3 mui6-2, aa3 mui6-1).

Amui corrê vem gudam.

girl, specifically an unmarried Chinese girl from a humble background


nhum

From Portuguese senhor, via an older nhom, which seems to have been an abbreviation arisen from Afro-Portuguese. Compare Portuguese nhô, Kabuverdianu nho, nhu. Doublet of sium.

Nhum nunca-sam di aqui.


atâi

Atâi corrê vem gudam.


fólia

From Portuguese folha. Sense 3 likely a semantic loan from Cantonese 葉／叶 (jip⁶, “leaf”) and 頁／页 (jip⁶, “page”), although emergence of sense 4 probably not related to Cantonese.

semantic loan

botâ na fólia

Já sai na fólia


mainato

Borrowed from Malayalam [script needed] (mannattan), most likely via Indo-Portuguese.

bor+

levâ rópa-rópa pa mainato

laundry (a place or room where laundering is done)


leongfanêro

Chinese diver who collects oysters from the muddy waters of Macau and cracks them open


vêlo-công

Estung'a velo-công ui-di boca brejero!


amuichai

amui + Cantonese 仔 (zai², “diminutive suffix”) and/or Cantonese 阿 (aa³, “familiar prefix”) + Cantonese 妹仔 (mui⁶⁻¹ zai², “maid”).


apó

apó cartâ águ

elderly Chinese woman of humble background


siára

head

siára (plural siára-siára, masculine sium)

From Portuguese senhora, apparently influenced by Afro-Portuguese and/or Kristang.


respondéncia

From a merger of Portuguese correspondência and archaic Portuguese respondência (“commercial profit”), from Latin respondentia.

der

Su sapeca têm respondéncia


nhonhônha

Alternative form of nhonhonha: ladies, women


puliça

Ultimately from Latin polītīa, probably through Portuguese polícia and the colloquial slang form puliça.

puliça-môro

Indian soldier formerly recruited from Goa, Damao and Diu to serve in Macao's police force

puliça pau

(historical) policeman carrying a wooden stick; policeman stick

Puliça prendê êle


cristám

From Portuguese cristão. Linguistic senses an ellipsis of língu cristám.

cristám-nôvo

adult Chinese convert to Catholicism (literally, “new Catholic”)


cristám

língu cristám

Portuguese; Macanese; Kristang; Christian/Catholic language

Christian (relating to or following Christianity)


greza

corê greza

to go to multiple churches on Maundy Thursday (literally, “to run church(es)”)

Nôs véla-véla têm-qui cubrí dol pa vai greza.

We old ladies have to cover our heads with a veil when we go to church.


falânpám

Apparently borrowed from English frying pan.


chanquêm

Borrowed from Cantonese 巡警 (ceon⁴ ging²), borrowing the now-obsolete sense of "police officer".


hotê

Probably from Portuguese hotel, from French hôtel, from Latin hospitāle.

Êle falâ amanhâm vai Hotê Lisboa dále dôs mám.

He says that tomorrow he will go to Hotel Lisboa to gamble.


pisidénte

From Portuguese presidente. For R-dropping, compare isquevê, quiança, and also pisente (“present”).

Olâ Pisidénte


vassôra

vassôra pena

feather duster with rattan handle (literally, “feather brush”)

vassôra bambú

stiff broom made from vine or bamboo strips (literally, “bamboo broom”)

vassôra côco

brush made from coconut fibre (literally, “coconut brush”)

pegâ vassôra-pena dále quiança

to beat a child with a feather duster (literally, “to beat a child with a feather brush”)


perdê chávi

Literally, “to lose the key”. Derivation uncertain.


sapeca fêmea

(idiomatic, possibly derogatory) easy money, money gained through dishonest means


máno

Presumably from Portuguese mano. Sense 3 (especially with chomâ) possibly also a semantic loan from Cantonese 大佬 (daai⁶ lou²).


nhim

Possibly a diminutive of Portuguese menina, ultimately from Old Galician-Portuguese meninha, with possible metathesis.

Coordinate term: siára

formal address for young girls, single women and lowly women of a certain age: young lady, miss


ach'á

a Muslim, especially an Indian, Pakistani or otherwise South Asian Muslim


môro

From Portuguese mouro (“Moor”). Compare Spanish moro.

puliça-môro

carí di móro

(by extension) any non-Christian Indian (person from India)


caxám

Presumably from Portuguese caixão, from caixa (“box”) + -ão (“augmentative suffix”). By surface analysis, caixa + -ám.


amuiróna

amui (“girl”) + -róna (“feminine augmentative suffix”).


pilizóna

Probably from obsolete and/or low colloquial Portuguese pelejona. By surface analysis, pilizâ + -óna.


aporóna

apó (“elderly Chinese woman”) + -róna (“feminine augmentative suffix”).

Sã ramendá aporóna,
Cartá pinga vendê brêdo.
She appears to be an ordinary woman,
carrying baskets of vegetables for sale.

(possibly derogatory) large, heavy, ordinary middle-aged Chinese woman


pilizám

Probably from Portuguese pelejão. By surface analysis, pilizâ (“to argue, to dispute”) + -ám.