bacalhau

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English

Etymology

From Portuguese bacalhau.

Noun

bacalhau (uncountable)

  1. Dried salted cod.

Portuguese

bacalhaus

Etymology

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

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

Noun

bacalhau m (plural bacalhaus)

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

Descendants

  • → Dutch: bakkeljauw (see there for further descendants)
  • → Hawaiian: pakaliao
  • → Shona: bakayau

References

  • 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

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