English edit

Etymology edit

Portuguese bacalhau

Noun edit

bacalhau (uncountable)

  1. Dried salted cod.

Portuguese edit

 
bacalhaus

Etymology edit

From Dutch bakeljauw, bakkeljauw, of uncertain origin. Possibly from Late Latin baccalaureus, baculum (stick, staff), referring to the way cod were split and dried on wooden sticks. Or, possibly from Basque bakailao. The Basque term may be either the source or the descendant of Dutch kabeljauw, cognates would then include French cabillaud and German Kabeljau.

Cognate to Italian baccalà, Spanish bacalao, Catalan bacallà.

Pronunciation edit

  • Rhymes: -aw
  • Hyphenation: ba‧ca‧lhau

Noun edit

bacalhau m (plural bacalhaus)

  1. cod
  2. (Portugal, colloquial) vagina (woman's genitalia)
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:vagina/translations
  3. (Portugal, colloquial) handshake (grasping of hands by two people)
    Synonyms: aperto de mão, (Portugal, informal) passou-bem

Descendants edit

References edit

  • Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

Further reading edit