chá

Borrowed from Cantonese 茶 (caa⁴), uncertain whether via Portuguese or later lent to Portuguese.

chá co sucre

vazâ chá

Dâ unga xicra di chá pa iou


porco

Presumably from Portuguese porco, from Old Galician-Portuguese porco, from Latin porcus, from Proto-Italic *porkos, from Proto-Indo-European *pórḱos (“young swine, young pig”).

der

ramendâ unga porco

porco balichám tamarinho

Macanese dish prepared with pork, tamarind and balichám (dried shrimp paste)

porco chau-chau parida

special pork stew served to woman after giving birth (literally, “pork stir-fry birthed”)


vaca

From Portuguese vaca, from Old Galician-Portuguese vaca, from Latin vacca.

unga nhônha bem di vaca

ela assí vaca


achar

From Malay acar, from Classical Malay اچر (acar), from Classical Persian آچار (āčār, “pickle, marinade”). Compare Indonesian acar. Etymologically unrelated to Portuguese achar or its Macanese descendant achâ.

comê achar

achar (preserve or pickle, made of spring onions, cabbage, coconut, apple, pear, etc. in vinegar and salt, (formerly) eaten as an appetizer or a street food using toothpicks)


sopa

From Portuguese sopa, from Late Latin suppa (“sopped bread”), from Proto-Germanic *supô.

sopa encorpado

sópa lacassá


tacho

chacháu pêle (Macanese stew made with puffed dried pork skin)


bife

From Portuguese bife, from English beef, from Old French buef, from Latin bovem (“ox”).


sós

Probably borrowed from English sauce, ultimately from French sauce. Compare Malay sos.


canje

Presumably from Portuguese canja, from Malayalam കഞ്ഞി (kaññi). Semantically, possibly influenced by English congee (especially sense 2), ultimately also from the Malayalam source.


lacassá

sópa lacassá


lete

bebinca di lete

café co lête

china di lête


bebinca

Unclear. Possibly from Konkani [script needed] (bibik), or borrowed from Malay bingka (“Malay cake made of rice flour, coconut cream, eggs and sugar”), entering Macanese via Indo-Portuguese with reduplication of the first syllable. Likely not related to Portuguese beber (“to drink”). Compare Tagalog bibingka, Cebuano bibingka, Hiligaynon bibingka, Spanish vivinca.

bor+

bebinca di lete

bebinca di nabo, bebinca-rábano

bebinca-pulú


carí

Ultimately from Tamil கறி (kaṟi), with the L-less form most likely via Malay or Indonesian kari.

carí di móro


siao

Borrowed from Cantonese 豉油 (si⁶ jau⁴, si⁶ jau⁴⁻²).


cális

From Old Galician-Portuguese calez /caliz, from Latin calicem. Compare Portuguese cálice.

Tóne tâ bebê unga cáliz di vinho-Porto.
Tóne is drinking a glass of port.


xicra

From Portuguese xícara, from Spanish jícara, ultimately from Classical Nahuatl xīcalli.

Dâ unga xicra di chá pa iou


bolacho

From a theoretical masculine form of Portuguese bolacha (“biscuit; slap”).

bolacho-soda


minchi

Borrowed from Cantonese 免治 (min⁵ zi⁶), itself from English mince. Alternatively, from Japanese ミンチ (minchi) (also presumably from the English term), although this is less likely.

traditional Macanese dish made with minced pork or beef and fried with onion and other condiments


arôz chauchau

/aˈɾos t͡ʃɐwˌt͡ʃɐw/

/aˈɾoʃ t͡ʃɐwˌt͡ʃɐw/


bôlo nata

pastel de nata (Portuguese custard tart)


leong-fan

Borrowed from Cantonese 涼粉 /凉粉 (loeng⁴ fan²).


pâm

torâ pâm

pâm-di-casa

a very light, sweet bread, usually made at home (literally, “home bread”)

nôvo-nôvo, pâm co ovo

a new broom sweeps clean (literally, “very new, bread with egg”)


santám

Borrowed from Malay santan, from Old Javanese santĕn (“coconut milk”), from Sanskrit सार (sāra, “essence”).

chau-cháu co santám


chau-cháu

Reduplication of Cantonese 炒 (caau², “to stir-fry”). Compare Chinese Pidgin English chow-chow.

chau-chau pêle

said stew made with pêle (puffed dried pork skin), pork, chinese sausages and cabbage


quachí

seeds, especially watermelon seeds consumed as a snack


min-pau

Borrowed from Cantonese 麵包 /面包 (min⁶ baau¹).

min-pau quente-quente


bôlo batê-pau

batê-pau derives from the motion traditionally used to make mooncakes - by hitting (batê) a wooden stick (pau) on the table, the stick being the traditional wooden mooncake mold.

Bôlo batê-pau sâm dóci.


sutate

Apparently of Japanese origin. If so, likely borrowed from Japanese すったて (suttate), a dish from Shirakawa prepared by mixing stone-ground soybeans with a miso and soy-sauce-based broth.

minchi burifado co sutate


missó

>? Portuguese: missô

Borrowed from Japanese 味噌 (miso). First recorded in the Ou-Mun Kei-Leok published 1751. Possibly entered Macanese via the Japanese Catholic population who settled in the Pátio do Espinho during the 17th and 18th centuries.


miçó

Alternative form of missó: miso, soybean paste


chili-missó

chili paste, chili sauce (spicy Chinese condiment prepared with chile, vinegar and soybean paste)


missó cristám

Literally, “Christian/Catholic miso”. Speculated by some that because the miso used is different to the Japanese variety, it was considered pagan.

Macanese dish made with a base of soybean paste, minced pork, and saffron


falânpám

Apparently borrowed from English frying pan.


iam-chá

Borrowed from Cantonese 飲茶 /饮茶 (jam² caa⁴).

yum cha (Chinese meal served between breakfast and lunchtime, usually featuring dim sum)


hám-chói

Borrowed from Cantonese 鹹菜 /咸菜 (haam⁴ coi³, “pickle”, literally “salty vegetable”).


hortelám di sopa

Literally, “soup mint”. Referred to as such due to its common usage in soups in Macanese cuisine, in addition to various other dishes.

chá di hortelám di sopa


chaminica

small teacup with no handle, used in Chinese restaurants


queique

large, heavy spiced fruitcake soaked in brandy, usually served at Christmas and in general at all important Macanese parties


corn-star

(small) cake made with corn starch or cornflour


taufufá

Borrowed from Cantonese 豆腐花 (dau⁶ fu⁶ faa¹).

tofu pudding (cold tofu served with a syrup made of rock sugar and ginger)


tapilu

Borrowed from Cantonese 打邊爐 /打边炉 (daa² bin¹ lou⁴).

hot pot (meal in which the food is brought to the table raw and then boiled in a communal pot on a special burner, called steamboat)


balichám

→ English: balichao

→ Portuguese: balichão

Borrowed from Malay belacan or older variants balacan, balacang. Possibly reinforced by cognate Cantonese 馬拉盞 /马拉盏 (maa⁵ laai¹ zaan²). Alternatively, from Portuguese baleia (“whale”), but this is less likely, both semantically and phonologically.

B-A-ba, primêro letra,
L-I-li divinhaçan;
Quim querê sabe minha nome
Botá ôlo na chan.
Sã Balichan.
B-A-ba, the first letter,
L-I-li guessing;
Whoever wants to know my name
Put your eye on the floor.
It's balicham.

balichao (savoury condiment prepared with very small, dried shrimp or krill)

porco balichám tamarinho

Macanese dish prepared with pork, tamarind and balichám


múchi

Almost certainly borrowed from Japanese 餅 (mochi). Unclear whether alteration of the first vowel may have been influenced by Okinawan 餅 (mūchī) and/or a dialectal form in Japanese, or it may have happened internally in Macanese; compare fucinho and Portuguese focinho (“snout”).

mochi (rice cake made from glutinous rice and filled with desiccated coconut, roasted beans and sesame)


cambrám

From Portuguese camarão and obsolete cambrão. For dissimilation of -mar- → -mbr-, compare also tambrinho.

bolo di cambrám

shrimp dumpling (literally, “shrimp cake”)

cambrám mizóna


pó-bolacho

lombo pó di bolacho

bife pó bolacho