geringonça

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• gerigonça

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish jerigonza, from Old Occitan gergons, from Old French jargon. Doublet of jargão.

The political sense was a generalization of the informal name given to the 21st Portuguese government.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒe.ɾĩˈɡõ.sɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒe.ɾĩˈɡõ.sɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒe.ɾĩˈɡõ.sa/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ʒɨ.ɾĩˈɡõ.sɐ/

• Hyphenation: ge‧rin‧gon‧ça

Noun

geringonça f (plural geringonças)

1. contraption (complicated and precarious machine)

   Synonym: engenhoca

2. slang (language outside of conventional usage)

   Synonyms: gíria, calão

3. (Portugal, politics) a government formed by several parties, often in order to prevent a party who won a simple majority, from governing