cheirar

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cheirar (“to smell”) (13th, Cantigas de Santa Maria) from Vulgar Latin or Late Latin flagrāre, by dissimilation from Latin fragrāre.

Cognate to Portuguese cheirar, Catalan and Occitan flairar, French flairer, and English flair (through Old French flair).

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃejˈɾaɾ/

cheirar (first-person singular present cheiro, first-person singular preterite cheirei, past participle cheirado)

1. (transitive) to smell (to perceive a smell with the nose)

   Cheiro a comida? ― Am I smelling food?

2. (transitive) to sniff
3. (intransitive) to smell (to have a particular smell) [with a ‘of/like’]

   Cheira a comida. ― It smells like food.

   Esta roupa cheira. A que cheira esta roupa? A fume?

   These clothes have a smell. What smell do these clothes have? Smoke?

   • c. 1295, R. Lorenzo, editor, La traducción gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla, Ourense: I.E.O.P.F, page 625:

     Et teu yrmão Fernã Gonçaluez, cõna muy grã coyta que ouue, sey(nd)o do paaço fugindo et saltou en hũu curral que nõ era muy limpo; et, quando el et seus panos ende seyrõ nõ cheyrauã a musgo

     And your brother Fernán González, with the great trouble he had, getting out of the palace and fleeing he jumped into a corral that was not very clean; and, when he finally got out of it, his clothes didn't smell of musk

4. (intransitive) to stink, to smell

   Cheiras. ― You stink.

5. (intransitive, figurative) to tire, bore, annoy

   As visitas e o pescado, ós dous días cheiran. (proverb) ― Visitors and fish, both "stink" the second day.

6. (figurative) to sniff around, snoop

   Que andas a cheirar no meu cuarto? ― What are you doing in my room?

• (to have the smell of): ulir, recender
• (to have a strong bad smell): feder, alcatrear, abafar

• cheira que recende
• cheiro

• cheiracús
• cheirón
• cheirume
• cheirento

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “cheirar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “cheir”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “cheirar”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “cheirar”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “cheirar”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “cheirar” in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (2014).
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “cheirar”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Inherited from Vulgar Latin or Late Latin flagrāre, by dissimilation from Latin fragrāre.

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃej.ˈɾaɾ/
• Rhymes: -aɾ

cheirar

1. (transitive) to smell (to perceive a smell with the nose)
2. (intransitive) to stink, to smell

• Extremaduran: cheral
• Fala: cheiral, chiral
• Galician: cheirar
• Portuguese: cheirar (see there for further descendants)

• Universo Cantigas - "cheirar"

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cheirar (“to smell”), from Vulgar Latin, Late Latin flagrāre, by dissimilation from Latin fragrāre.

Cognate to Galician cheirar, Extremaduran cheral, Catalan and Occitan flairar, Sicilian ciagurari, French flairer, and English flair (through Old French flair).

• Audio (Brazil):

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• Hyphenation: chei‧rar

cheirar (first-person singular present cheiro, first-person singular preterite cheirei, past participle cheirado)

1. (transitive) to smell (to perceive a smell with the nose)

   Eu não consigo cheirar nada.

   I can't smell anything.

2. (intransitive) to smell (to have a particular smell) [with a ‘of/like’]

   Esse perfume cheira a chocolate.

   That perfume smells like chocolate.

3. (informal) to snoop, pry (to inquire into something that does not concern one)

   O que é que andas para aí a cheirar?

   What are you snooping there?

4. (colloquial, transitive, intransitive) to snort (to insufflate cocaine)

• (to have the smell of): exalar, odorar
• (to have a strong bad smell): feder, tresandar
• (to insufflate cocaine): snifar

• cheirador
• cheiricar
• cheiro

• fragrância
• fragrante

• Guinea-Bissau Creole: tcera
• Kabuverdianu: tchera
• Macanese: cherâ

• “cheirar” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913