bouba

Galician

Attested since circa 1846. Perhaps from Latin balbus.^[1] Compare Spanish bobo.

bouba f (plural boubas)

lie, fib
hoax
- 1886, in O Galiciano, 91, p. 3:
  O que a ti che compría ,repriquei, era unha boa vragasta polo lombo; sempre foches un perdido, e pra botar un día máis de pándega aporveitaste desa bouba da fin do mundo ...
  "What you need", I reply, "is a good rod down your back; yo have always been a dissolute guy, and for having one more day of fun you are taking advantage of this hoax about the end of the world …"

Attested since circa 1750. From Medieval Latin būbō, from Ancient Greek βουβών (boubṓn, “groin, swelling”).

bouba f (plural boubas)

Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “bouba”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “bouba”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “bouba”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “bouba”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “bobo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbo(w).bɐ/ [ˈbo(ʊ̯).bɐ]
- (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbo(w).ba/ [ˈbo(ʊ̯).ba]

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbo(w).bɐ/ [ˈbo(w).βɐ]
- (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbow.bɐ/ [ˈbow.βɐ]
- (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbo.bɐ/ [ˈbo.βɐ]

bouba f (plural boubas)

“bouba”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
“bouba”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
“bouba”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
“bouba”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025