mau

From Portuguese mau, probably with some semantic influence from Portuguese mal as well.

Êle qui mau coraçám

He is so evil (literally, “He is so bad heart”)

mau repente

impulsive; rash action inspired by a bad temper


basso

From Portuguese baixo, or some dialectal variant which retains -ss- from Late Latin bassus (“low, short”), with further semantic influence from debaixo.

Basso-Monte

the lower part or area around Fortaleza do Monte


vaca

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

unga nhônha bem di vaca

ela assí vaca


tarde

Já chegâ tarde vai siviço

Istupôr di Secundino, tudo dia chegâ na casa assí tarde, certo têm cegónha.

That idiot Secudino, arriving home so late every day, he must have a lover.


feo

From Old Galician-Portuguese feo. Compare Portuguese feio.

feo olâ

it doesn't look good (literally, “ugly look”)

Ânsia feo olâ

It is bad to be greedy (literally, “greed ugly look”)

Estung'a quanto casa sâm bem di feo


juntado

From Portuguese juntado. By surface analysis, juntâ + -ado.

Vôs cai, nôs cai juntado co vôs.

Qui-foi êle nunca vêm Macau juntado co vôs?

Why doesn’t he ever come join you in Macau?


capaz

Se pôde, sâm capaz; si nom pôde, sâm capám.

If you can, you're smart; if you can't, you're useless.

Maquista-maquista qui capaz, falâ quarto língu-língu!

Macanese are so capable, they can speak four languages!

Iou nunca capaz onçom vai fora na nôti.


bô

Vai panhâ, quiança! Bô-quiança, azinha vai panhâ!

Go get it, child! Good child, get it quick!


grandi

Alternative form of grándi: large, important


pió

From Portuguese pior, comparative form of mau, with the loss of final -r akin to the process in verb infinitives; compare -â.

Pió qui êle, nunca olâ


aguado

Probably from Portuguese aguado. By surface analysis, águ + -ado.


cafre

Presumably from Portuguese cafre, from Arabic كَافِر (kāfir, “infidel”).

mui cafre


filiz

Êle bêm-di filiz


cumprido

From Portuguese comprido. Compare Guinea-Bissau Creole kumpridu, Kabuverdianu kunprido.

fino cumprido

calçám cumprido

Já cai di cumprido na chám


macaísta

From Portuguese macaísta, from Macau + -ista.


fáci

fáci qui fáci


bôm

bôm-sono

más bôm

bôm cara

bôm coraçám

kind-hearted, generous person (literally, “good heart”)

Êle têm bôm paga


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 copo agua, cima di telado, sobe di ceu.

A young butterfly flies, above rooftops, below the sky.


istrêto

iscada qui istrêto


cucús

Speculated to be of North African origin (although semantically challenging to explain a relationship to couscous), but also possibly borrowed from Malay kukus (“steamed”), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kukus, from Proto-Austronesian *kukus.

pêsse-cucús


vêlo

Bulí corpo, sintí qui vêlo...


chau-chau-lau-lau

Borrowed from Cantonese 吵吵鬧鬧 /吵吵闹闹 (caau² caau² naau⁶ naau⁶).

bor+

Nosso Macau já virâ-ficâ chau-chau-lau-lau


tai-mong

Borrowed from Cantonese 大懵 (daai⁶ mung², “absent-minded; muddled and forgetful”).

Cuza chomá iou tai-mong?


grándi

palangana grándi-grándi di sôm

bariga grandi

bóca grándi

pompous, boastful, exaggerated (literally, “big mouth”)

filo-grándi

más grándí

Nhum falâ Macau sâm grandi, qui fui?

gente grándi


bêm-fêto

From Portuguese bem feito (literally “well done; well made”), or may have arisen naturally in Macanese, i.e. bêm + fêto.

der

upâ di bêm-fêto


nuncassá

Believed to be nunca + sã with denasalization, literally, “it is not”, although the older form nuncamçá may be linked to *nôm cansâ (“don't get tired; it is not necessary”).

nuncassá corê

nuncassá cerimónia

nuncassá inventâ

nancassá vegónha, da mostrâ

Bôbo-bôbo de agora, nuncassá cubrí su rosto

Fools of today, don't have to paint their faces


mestê

From Portuguese mester (“necessary”), from Old Galician-Portuguese mester. Alternative form derives from Portuguese há mester (“there is necessity”).

...mestê primêro / fazê três quatro viazi

...first it is needed / to make three or four trips


nomestê

nomestê réva


tóc-tóc

Apparently a reduplication of Portuguese toque (“touch”).


onçóm

Portuguese um (“a, one”) + só (“alone”) (Macanese unga + sô), hence the older forms unsó and unçom, first formed in Malaysian Portuguese and Kristang. Final nasalization possibly influenced by the nasality of the un- (and later on-) component. For the /u/ → /o/ shift, compare fonçám (versus expected *funçám). For the word-final nasalization, compare sium.

êle onçóm vêm

já ficâ onçóm


maquista

Alteration of macaísta, reducing /kɐ.i/ or /ka.i/ to /ki/. By surface analysis, Macau + -ista.

língu maquista

Macanese (of or relating to the mixed Portuguese-Chinese culture)


drêto

Likely from Portuguese direito. Compare Kabuverdianu dretu.

sâm drêto

bem di drêto


chúcho

Either borrowed from Malay cucok (“to poke”) or a clipping of chuchumeca. Doublet of chuchú. Semantically, compare English poke one's nose into.


cristám

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

língu cristám

Portuguese; Macanese; Kristang; Christian/Catholic language

Christian (relating to or following Christianity)


dangeroso

/dɐŋd͡ʒiˈɾɔzu/

/dɐŋd͡ʒeˈɾɔzu/

Borrowed from English dangerous, reformed likely by analogy with perigoso and other adjectives ending in -oso.


sopa-sopa mulado

Reduplication of sopa (“soup”) + mulado.


mulado

From Old Galician-Portuguese mollado. By surface analysis, mulâ + -ado.

Corê-corê, escoregâ cai chinchám na chám mulado

While he was running, he fell and crashed onto the wet ground


empido

empê + -ido. Note the change from -ê to -ido, as is consistent with Portuguese grammar (cf. Portuguese morrer, morrido).

Olá nhónha... morê empido!

Looking at women... you will die standing!


jóvi

From Portuguese jovem or a de-nasalized variant. For loss of final nasal consonant, compare Galician xove.

Tio Cha-Chai quelora jóvi, nho-nhónha andá à-nóvi!

Uncle Cha-Chai when young would be on the go all day!


cachôro

From Portuguese cachorro (“puppy; dog”). Adjectival senses of unclear origin.


dóci

capa-dóci

helpful person; female know-it-all; sweet winter coat

Têm pâm dóci, têm pâm salgado.

There is sweet bread, there is savoury bread.

Vôs sabe falâ dóci língu di Macau?

(literally, “Do you know how to speak the sweet language of Macau?”)


cholido

cholê + -ido, most likely semantically related to the third sense (to tap someone to get their attention). Note the change from -ê to -ido, as is consistent with Portuguese grammar (cf. Portuguese morrer, morrido), which compare also empido.

ficâ cholido

to interfere; to be accused of interfering (literally, “to become interfering”)


seléa

From Portuguese semelhante or semelha, likely with some form of metathesis.

olâ selêa fronha

Iou nunca gostâ uví seléa ancusa.

I never liked to listen to these kinds of things.

Já olâ seléa boboriça?

Have you ever seen this kind of nonsense?


galánte

Presumably from Portuguese galante, from French galant.

Estunga eleçám qui galánte, têm laia-laia di gente.

This election is so strange, there are all kinds of people.

Macau sã téra galánte di quánto-cento papiaçám.

Macau is an extraordinary place with hundreds of languages.


assilai

assí + laia. Possibly a calque of Cantonese 噉樣 /噉样 (gam² joeng⁶⁻²).

calque

assilai cuza


pensám

iou qui pensám

nunca assí pensám


pó-bolacho

lombo pó di bolacho

bife pó bolacho


ravirado

From Portuguese revirado. By surface analysis, ravirâ + -ado.

torto-ravirado

extended lengthwise (literally, “twisted-extended”)


raspiáti

Uncertain. Variously speculated to be from either French rapiat (“avid; greedy”) or Indo-Portuguese rajputo, rasbuto, resbuto, reisbuto, a military caste in ancient Gujarat, ultimately from Sanskrit राजपुत्र (rājaputra). Semantically, the derogatory senses may have come about when the resbutos, after the Moors took over their Gujarati kingdom, turned to banditry, and were referred to as "great thieves and tyrants".