bê-á-bá

Portuguese

Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French b-a ba, from a stereotypical nursery school-lesson: b-a is pronounced "ba".

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˌbeˌaˈba/
  • (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˌbeˌaˈba/ [ˌbeˌaˈβa]

Noun

bê-á-bá m (plural bê-á-bás)

  1. ABCs (the first steps to learning to read)
    Synonyms: alfabeto, abecedário, á-bê-cê
  2. (by extension) an exercise in spelling
  3. (by extension) a book or table containing exercises in spelling
    Synonyms: cartilha, silabário
  4. (figurative) the basics, the fundamentals (the first essential concepts and abilities of an activity)

Further reading

This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.