raposa
Galician edit
Etymology edit
See raposo. Compare Portuguese raposa, Spanish raposa.
Noun edit
raposa f (plural raposas)
- vixen (animal)
Related terms edit
Portuguese edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Spanish raposa (“fox”), probably from rabo (“tail”), from Latin rāpum (“turnip”) + -ōsus, and influenced by descendants of rapiō (“snatch, grab”).
Pronunciation edit
- Hyphenation: ra‧po‧sa
Noun edit
raposa f (plural raposas)
- fox (both the "true foxes" of the Old World and North America, and the "false foxes" of Latin America)
- 2015, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, O Pequeno Príncipe, Pelekanos Books, →ISBN:
- – Os homens, disse a raposa, têm fuzis e caçam. É bem incômodo!
- “The men”, said the fox, “have rifles and they hunt. It’s quite bothersome!”
- (specifically) vixen (female fox)
- (Brazil, regional) oposum (any American marsupial of the family Didelphidae)
- (usually derogatory) fox (a sly or cunning person)
Usage notes edit
Raposa is one of the few feminines that are used by default (when the referent’s sex is unknown or irrelevant).
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Further reading edit
- “raposa” in Dicionário Online de Português.
- “raposa” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024.
Spanish edit
Etymology edit
See raposo.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
raposa f (plural raposas)
Further reading edit
- “raposo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014