bicho-preguiça

Portuguese

Etymology

From bicho (beast, animal) +‎ preguiça (sloth, laziness).

Noun

bicho-preguiça m (plural bichos-preguiça)

  1. sloth (any animal in the suborder Folivora)
    Synonyms: preguiça,
    • 2012 January 31, Gabriela Lima, “Bicho-preguiça é capturado após fugir de mata do Zoológico de Goiânia”, in TV Anhanguera[1], Goiânia: g1, archived from the original on 2 June 2012:
      O Corpo de Bombeiros resgatou, na tarde desta terça-feira (31), um bicho-preguiça que havia fugido da mata do Zoológico de Goiânia, no Setor Oeste. O animal estava na fiação, em frente à entrada de funcionários do parque.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

The gender of this Portuguese zoonym is always masculine: when the gender of the being itself must be specified, use “bicho-preguiça-macho” for male, and “bicho-preguiça-fêmea” for female. Here, fêmea is treated as an undeclinable noun and doesn't necessarily need to agree in gender with the referent, but would change to fêmeo if so.

Further reading