gafinhâ
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Macanese[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Unclear. Possibly from Portuguese gavinha (“tendril”) + -â, with tendrils being compared to insect legs.[1]
Verb[edit]
gafinhâ
- to scrape, tickle or scratch with fingernails
- (idiomatic) to uncover, to ferret out, to search out something difficult to find
- Ondi vas já vai gafinhâ estunga pintura?
- Where did you uncover this painting?
Derived terms[edit]
- gafinhâ ôsso di bur-bur (“used of an extremely nosy person who asks indiscreet questions”, literally “to search out bones of a boneless fish”)
References[edit]
- ^ Batalha, Graciete Nogueira (1988) “gafinhar”, in Glossário do dialecto macaense: notas linguísticas, etnográficas e folclóricas [Glossary of the Macanese dialect: linguistic, ethnographic and folkloric notes], Macau: Instituto Cultural de Macau, page 450