besouro
Portuguese
Etymology
From Old Galician-Portuguese abesouro (“beetle”), of unknown origin. Maybe from Latin avis aurea (“golden bird”) or from Spanish abejorro, from abeja (“bee”) + -orro (“augmentative suffix”). Or, possibly imitative of the wing's sounds. Cognate with Galician abesouro (“bumblebee”).
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /biˈzo(w).ɾu/ [biˈzo(ʊ̯).ɾu], /beˈzo(w).ɾu/ [beˈzo(ʊ̯).ɾu]
- (Southern Brazil) IPA(key): /biˈzo(w).ɾo/ [biˈzo(ʊ̯).ɾo], /beˈzo(w).ɾo/ [beˈzo(ʊ̯).ɾo]
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /bɨˈzo(w).ɾu/
- (Northern Portugal) IPA(key): /bɨˈzow.ɾu/
- (Southern Portugal) IPA(key): /bɨˈzo.ɾu/
- Rhymes: -owɾu
- Hyphenation: be‧sou‧ro
Noun
besouro m (plural besouros)
- beetle (any of numerous species of insect in the order Coleoptera)
Derived terms
- besourão
- besourar
- besourinho
- besouro-bombardeiro
- besouro-da-batata
- besouro-escorpião
- besouro-hércules
- besouro-verde
Further reading
- “besouro”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025