Words for two senses that get by on about five in everyday life.
Practise this list
From these 40 words, as many per round as you like — up to all of them: first what is due today, then new ones. First you choose, then you fill the gap, then you write it yourself. Mistakes come back again shortly.
More about this list
The twenty-sixth entry is de sabor salgado, and the English word for it, « savoury », does a good deal more work than the Portuguese phrase. It is first of all the opposite of « sweet », and that one opposition organises a whole kitchen: savoury pastry against sweet pastry, a savoury tart, the savoury course. It is not a synonym of « salty », and that is the trap, because salgado names salt while « savoury » does not: a mushroom broth with no salt in it at all is savoury. The same breadth is why « savoury » has become the usual English rendering of the entry that follows, o umami. The negative is where a reader comes unstuck. « Unsavoury » ought by its shape to mean bland, or unpleasant to eat, and it means nothing of the kind. An unsavoury character is disreputable, an unsavoury business is one nobody wants looked into, and neither has been tasted by anyone; the word has left the table entirely. Note the spelling as well: British writing keeps the u in « savoury », as it does in « flavour », and American writing drops it.
The words
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Verb (4)
tresandar ato stink ofVerbC2
O contentor tresanda a peixe desde ontem.The skip has been stinking of fish since yesterday.
cheirar malto smell badVerbC2
A água parada começa a cheirar mal ao fim de poucos dias.Standing water starts to smell bad after only a few days.
espalhar-se pelo arto drift through the airVerbC2
O cheiro do pão espalha-se pelo ar até à rua.The smell of the bread drifts through the air as far as the street.
ficar no arto hang in the airVerbC2
O fumo do cigarro fica no ar durante horas.Cigarette smoke hangs in the air for hours.
