ciscar

From Vulgar Latin *scissicāre, from Latin scindere (“to cut, separate”).^[1] By surface analysis, cisco +‎ -ar.

The sense relating to unfaithful flirting might be in reference to the slang sense for galinha (“someone who is never single”).

ciscar (first-person singular present cisco, first-person singular preterite cisquei, past participle ciscado)

1. (ambitransitive, of chickens) to scratch (to excavate with the claws)
2. (transitive, Brazil, figurative) to flirt or seek a relationship with someone other than one's romantic partner
3. (intransitive, Northern Portugal) to defecate little by little (clarification of this definition is needed.)

   Synonym: xiscar

• “ciscar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “ciscar”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), São Paulo: 7Graus, 2009–2026
• “ciscar”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “ciscar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

From cisco.

• IPA^(key): /θisˈkaɾ/ [θisˈkaɾ] (Spain, Equatorial Guinea)
• IPA^(key): /sisˈkaɾ/ [sisˈkaɾ] (Latin America, Philippines)
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: cis‧car

ciscar (first-person singular present cisco, first-person singular preterite cisqué, past participle ciscado)

1. to dirty; muck up

   Synonyms: ensuciar, mancillar

   ciscar su imagen ― sully one's image

   • 1604, Mateo Alemán, Atalaya de la vida humana:

     Pobre de mí, pues, como estaba ciscado, a cada paso parecía que me ponían a los cuatro vientos.

     Woe is me, as I was sullied, at every step methought I was being prais'd from the roof-tops.

2. (reflexive) to shit one's pants; shit oneself; soil oneself

   Synonym: cagarse

3. (reflexive) to shit oneself (lose bravery)
   • 1967, Ricardo Fernández de la Reguera, Vagabundos provisionales:

     Estaba al frente un capitán. Se ciscó de miedo y se agazapó en el refugio

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

• “ciscar”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025