bisbilhotice

Portuguese

FWOTD – 7 January 2024

Etymology

Etymology tree

Italian bisbigliarebor.

Portuguese bisbilhotar

Portuguese -ice

Portuguese bisbilhotice

From bisbilhotar + -ice.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /biz.bi.ʎoˈt͡ʃi.si/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /biz.bi.ʎoˈt͡ʃi.si/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /biʒ.bi.ʎoˈt͡ʃi.si/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /biʒ.bi.ʎuˈti.sɨ/ [biʒ.βi.ʎuˈti.sɨ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /biʒ.bi.ʎuˈti.sɨ/ [biʒ.βi.ʎuˈti.sɨ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /biʒ.bi.ʎuˈti.sɨ/

• Hyphenation: bis‧bi‧lho‧ti‧ce

Noun

bisbilhotice f (plural bisbilhotices)

1. gossip (idle talk)

   Synonyms: fofoca, mexerico

   • 2011 [1926], As Torrentes da Primavera, Simon and Schuster, translation of The Torrents of Spring by Ernest Hemingway, →ISBN:

     Aquela interminável torrente de bisbilhotice literária que arrastava o casamento dela, de Diana, para o fim. Ela não podia conservá-lo. Ele ia-se embora. Embora. Ia-se embora de ao pé dela. Diana esmagada ali pela sua própria miséria.

     That interminable stream of literary gossip that was bringing her, Diana’s, marriage to an end. She couldn’t hold him. He was going. Going. Going away from her. Diana sitting there in misery.

2. snooping, eavesdropping

Further reading

• “bisbilhotice”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “bisbilhotice”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026