The Portuguese alphabet doesn’t have a "k", "w" or "y." These letters are only used in "foreign" words. The accents used in Portuguese are the acute accent (Áá, Éé, Íí, Óó, Úú), the circumflex (Ââ, Êê, Ôô) and the tilde (Ãã, Õõ). Portuguese also has a "ç" character (C with a cedilla).
Colours inevitably spice up our day-to-day vocabulary with a host of phrases that nonetheless need some explanation either with their origin or their meaning such as:
a coisa está preta! the situation is hard to deal with (literally, the thing is black)
ficar verde de ciúme/inveja to be very jealous (literally, to become green of jealousy)
ficar verde de raiva to become furious (literally, to become green with rage)
me ferrei de verde e amarelo! I'm in trouble (literally, I'm screwed in green and yellow!)
sorriso amarelo a forced, insincere smile (literally, a yellow smile)
está tudo azul everything is good with me (literally, everything is blue)
imprensa marrom the disreputable / tabloid press (literally, the brown press)
ficar roxo de raiva to become enraged (literally, to turn purple with rage)
revistas cor-de-rosa celebrity / gossip magazines (literally, pink magazines)
fiquei bege! I'm astonished (literally, I'm beige!)
amizade colorida a friendship which includes sex without commitment (literally, a coloured friendship)
é cor de burro quando foge a colour which is hard to describe (literally, it's the colour of a donkey on the run)
Adam Jacot de Boinod worked for Stephen Fry on the first series of the television panel game QI. After leaving I began to investigate other languages, examining 280 dictionaries and 140 websites. This led to the creation of my first book of three in 2005, The Meaning of Tingo, featuring words that have no equivalent in the English language.
I am now a regular international travel writer and luxury hotel reviewer, having written for the Daily Mail, the Mail on Sunday, The Daily Telegraph and numerous travel print and website publications.
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Thanks for the fascinating and thought-provoking "colorful" list of expressions.
I'd like to take the liberty of amending some of the information you presented.
First, regarding the Portuguese alphabet: The letters K, W, and Y have officially been part of the Portuguese language since the 1990 orthographic reform. They are used in words of foreign origin, such as names and borrowings.
Second, you missed one important accent: the grave accent (ˋ), which indicates a phenomenon called crase. Crase is the contraction of the preposition a with the feminine definite article a (or with certain demonstrative pronouns).
By Julio Casoy from Lisbon on 28 Sep 2025, 08:57
As a complement to this article, it is worth noting that the letters k, w, and y have been officially included in the Portuguese alphabet. Since approximately 2009, they have also been part of the curriculum in Portuguese schools.
By Sara from Lisbon on 29 Sep 2025, 09:45