Portuguese Swear Words: An Unashamed Journey through Portuguese Strong Language

Although strongly repressed by many, swear words have their place in social interactions, namely, they are a powerful means of emotional release and human expression.

As a language learner, learning how and when to use Portuguese strong language can lead to deeper bonding with native speakers and, consequently, language immersion. 

See, strong language is often used in positive ways, especially among friends while telling jokes and spending a good time together. Knowing how and when to swear makes you more relatable to native speakers and can benefit your language learning.

The purpose of this blog post is not to instigate unwarranted verbal unpleasantness. Instead, it is meant to give you insight into different nuances of Portuguese strong language and situations in which you could use it smartly and humorously without offending or hurting anyone.

Right off the bat, here’s a list of some of the most hard-core Portuguese swearing expressions people can say to vent their frustration:

Of course, not all swear words are created equally rough nor do we use them only when we get pissed. There’s much more to it. Read on.

Why do we swear?

Often regarded as rude, many believe that swear words find their home among the uneducated and people living on the fringes of society. 

The truth is, however, that people use strong language across the entire social strata, and there might be a good reason for that. Undeniably, swearing is cathartic and allows us to release the anger that would, otherwise, get trapped inside. 

Strong language, then, acts as a buffer that prevents anger from escalating to unbearable levels, arguably avoiding dramatic events in the form of physical violence.

But cursing serves other purposes, too. 

For instance, it is used to tell jokes or to spice up story-telling. Dirty words also play an important role in sex talk, making it sound more natural and less awkward. 

Importantly, strong language is used to express positive emotions from powerful experiences. That’s probably the case when we hear something along the lines of, “Man, that was fucking good!” 

One can say “Awesome!” instead. But it’s not the same thing, is it?

Now that we’ve got a complete picture of what swearing is and what it is for, let’s take a look at the advantages of learning Portuguese bad words. 

Annoyance and anger

Strong language is cathartic and enables emotional release. People are likely to use it when, for instance, they get irritated or angry at something or someone. Here are a few Portuguese swear words that serve that purpose.

Swear word	Grade
Caraças	mild	A milder version of Caralho, equivalent to Damn!
Caralho	rough	A Portuguese equivalent to the f-word.
Foda-se	rough	As rough as Caralho! Both can be used interchangeably.
Merda	vulgar	Literally Shit! Also common to hear Deixa-te de merdas! as in Cut the crap!
Poça	mild	Short for Raios te partam! which translates to May the rays break you in two!
Porra	vulgar	A milder version of Caralho! or Foda-se!
Puta que pariu	rough	The whore that gave birth … Can be used interchangeably with Caralho!
Raisparta	mild	Short for Raios te partam! which literally translates to May the rays break you in two!

You can add an extra colloquial feeling to the expressions above by adding que and pá before and after respectively. Pá can be added to all of them, whereas que only will fit some. It is even common to combine different swear words:

• que merda pá!
• que caraças!
• porra pá!
• que caralho!
• puta que pariu pá!
• foda-se pá!
• raisparta pá!
• foda-se, puta que pariu!
• porra caralho!
• . . .

Excitement and joy

You will recognize some of the following words from the list above. Just by changing intonation, the same word can go from expressing anger to becoming an exclamation of surprise and astonishment.

Swear word	Grade
Caraças	mild	As in Holy cow!
Caralho	rough	As in Fuck!
Foda-se	rough	Used interchangeably with Caralho! Also common to say the short version: dass!
Jesus	mild	As in Jeez!
Meu deus	mild	As in Gosh!
Nossa senhora	mild	Literally Our lady!
Que puta	rough	Used interchangeably with Caralho! or Foda-se!

Meant to offend 

There are a plethora of expressions to choose from if one’s goal is to offend someone else. These insulting words can have a general or a more specific tone such as racist, misogynist, homophobic, and so on. 

Milder

Many of the following words have English cognates such as stupid, idiot, imbecile, etc. Admittedly, they can be used to insult, but they are often used jokingly among friends as well.

Swear word
Cabrão	It literally means billy goat. Comparable to Bastard!
Corno	It literally means horn. Often intended to humiliate men by suggesting they are cheated upon by their wives.
Estúpido	It literally means stupid as in You stupid!
Filho da mãe	It literally means son of a mother
Idiota	It literally means idiot as in You idiot!
Imbecil	It literally means imbecile. Comparable to Asshole!
Palerma	Comparable to What a jerk!
Paneleiro	Used disparagingly against gay men. Comparable to Faggot!
Sacana	Comparable to Bastard!

Rougher

Swear word
Filho da puta	Equivalent to Son of a bitch!
Monte de merda	Comparable to You piece of shit!
Porco(a)	It literally means pig. In practice, it will mean different things depending on if it is used against men or women. Against men, it suggests that someone is sloppy and untidy. Against women, it has sexual connotations insinuating someone being licentious.
Puta	Equivalent to Slut!
Vaca	It literally means cow and it is used derisively against women. Comparable to You bitch!
Vai apanhar no cú	Portuguese version of Up your ass!
Vai p’à puta que te pariu (vai para a puta que te pariu)	Equivalent of Go fuck yourself!
Vai p’ó caralho (vai para o caralho)	Same as above
Vai-te foder	Same as above

Dirty talk

Here are a few Portuguese naughty words commonly used in sex talk.

Portuguese swear words for masculine genitals

• caralho
• piça
• piroca
• pila
• colhões

Portuguese swear words for feminine genitals

• cona
• rata 
• pachacha 
• pito

Portuguese expressions for sexual intercourse

• foda (fuck)
• queca (fuck)
• rapidinha (quickie)  
• broche (blow job)
• minete (lick job)