macau

Portuguese

Alternative forms

  • macao (pre-standardization spelling)

Etymology

Unknown. Displaced by arara, from Old Tupi.

Pronunciation

  • (Brazil) IPA(key): /maˈkaw/ [maˈkaʊ̯]

  • Rhymes: -aw
  • Homophone: Macau
  • Hyphenation: ma‧cau

Noun

macau m (plural macaus) (obsolete, Early Modern, dis legomenon)

  1. macaw [16th–17th c.]
    Synonyms: arara, ará
    • 1590–1596, Francisco Soares, “Cap. Das aues. Araras”, in De alguãs Cousas mais notaueis do brasil e de alguñs costumes dos Indios [Of some of Brazil's most notable things and some Indian customs], page 49; republished as Antônio Geraldo da Cunha, compiler, Coisas Notáveis do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro: INL, 1966, page 127, lines 1273-1288:
      He hũ genero de papagajo q' chamaõ os portuguezes macao saõ v'melhos e amarelos e azuis saõ grandes como grãdes gauioẽs e o Rabo tem as penas da mesma cor dalgũs 2 palmos de cõprido. falaõ bẽ claro e voz grossa
      It's a kind of parrot that the Portuguese call “macaws”. They are red, yellow and blue, are as big as big hawks and their tails have feathers of the same color, about two spans long. They speak clearly with a deep voice.
    • p. 1583, Fernão Cardim, chapter IV, in Do clima e terra do Brasil; republished in Rodolfo Garcia, editor, Tratados da terra e gente do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro: J. Leite & Cia, 1925, page 51:
      Este Macao he muito formoso: he todo preto espargido de verde, que lhe dá muita graça […]
      This macaw is very beautiful: it's all black sprinkled with green, making it very graceful.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • → English: macaw
  • → Italian: macao
  • → Translingual: Ara macao

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.