Expressions related to death in Portuguese
Expressions related to death in Portuguese
Hello there and welcome to our Portuguese Basic Tips 76 (in English), called expressions related to death in Portuguese
In the previous episode, we talked about terms related to birth in Portuguese. It sounds natural that in the next episode we talk about death-related terms. So today we are going to speak about expressions related to death in Portuguese.
Click on the link and vist our previous episode called expressions related to birth in Portuguese
Let’s do it in a non-macabre way. That’s going to be our goal here. It’s just I think this is an important point, an important topic to pay attention to, right?
C’mon, let’s increase our vocabulary!
Leito de morte – Death-related terms in Portuguese
Sometimes when we are booking a room in a hotel, for example, we find the expression “leito”. This is nothing more than “bed” or “cama” in Portuguese, except for the fact that when people use the word “leito”, they’re pretending to be, they trying to be more formal than the usual. Therefore the expression “leito de morte” means that the person was lying on a bed, waiting for the moment to come.
For instance:
- Ele já estava no seu leito de morte, mas estava consciente sobre tudo o que estava acontecendo / He was on his deathbed, but he was aware of everything that was going on.
Bico do corvo
I told you we were going to try to make this a little milder, right? So let’s unlock the meaning of this slang here.
Bico do corvo literally means “crow’s beak”. See: when a prey, any animal, is in the crow’s beak, it means that it can no longer fight for anything. The fate of the prey is predictable. He is already facing God! When we say someone is “no bico do corvo”, we mean that he or she is close to the death. Over time, the expression also began to be used with objects.
For instance:
- A bateria do meu celular está no bico do corvo / My cell phone battery is running low.
Remember, we’re talking about slang. Since this is a very sensitive subject, be careful to know when to use the expression.
Velório – Expressions related to death in Portuguese
Velório is the same as funeral in English. In Brazil we also use the term “funeral”, but I think using the word “velório” is more common to us.
Cortejo
Cortejo is that ritual we do while we are taking the coffin to the place where the body will be buried.
Sepultura
Sepultura is a Brazilian heavy metal band, but sepultura also means “grave”, the place where the body is going to be buried.
Missa de sétimo dia
I have already mentioned in some podcasts that in Brazil we have a mostly Catholic population.
Well, I do not know the other religions very well, but in Catholicism, it is common that, after 7 days of death, people attend a mass in honor of the dear person who just passed. We call it “missa de sétimo dia”.
On those occasions, people who knew the deceased often say the following phrase to family members: meus sentimentos! It literally means “my feelings”, but we understand it as “I’m so sorry for your loss”.
Well, if you, like me, have recently lost any loved ones, meus sentimentos, but life goes on. Let’s do our best here! We can make it!
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See you next time.
Thanks!
Marcos Sales
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