bifana

Portuguese

FWOTD – 6 February 2024

bifana

Etymology

From bife (“steak”) +‎ -ana.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /biˈfɐ̃.nɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /biˈfɐ̃.nɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /biˈfɐ.na/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /biˈfɐ.nɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /biˈfɐ.nɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /biˈfa.nɐ/

• Hyphenation: bi‧fa‧na

Noun

bifana f (plural bifanas)

1. (cooking, Portugal) pork sandwich
   • 1947, Amilcar Ferreira de Castro, A gíria dos estudantes de Coimbra [The Slang of Coimbra Students] (Suplementos de Biblos; 7), Coimbra: Faculdade de Letras, page 33:

     Bife foi substituído por bifana […]

     (In the slang of the students of Coimbra University,) Bife/Beef has been replaced with bifana (which means, in Portuguese, a pork sandwich).

   • 1971, M. Reja Selimane, “Em pátria ocupada [In a country under occupation]” (chapter 6), in José Capela, compiler, Moçambique pelo seu povo: Cartas à "Voz Africana" [Mozambique By Its People: Letters to the "African Voice"]‎^[1], 4 edition, Porto: Centro de Estudos Africanos da Universidade do Porto, published 2010, →ISBN, page 102:

     Quando saímos de Moma fomos até em Larde, e o chouffer do machibombo foi almoçar, e eu fui ao Bar, e quando cheguei ao Bar pedi que me arranjassem uma bifana c/ovo à cavalo, e não havia carne, pedi em substituição da bifana uma lata de sardinha com piri-piri c/3 rodelas de cebolas, também não havia.

     When we left Moma we went to Larde (districts of Maputo), and the machibombo (a bus in Angola and Mozambique, a steam tram in Brazil) driver went to have lunch, and I went to the Bar, and when I arrived at the Bar I asked them to get me a pork sandwich, "horse mode" (with an egg "mounted" on the meat), and there was no meat, I asked (then) to replace the sandwich with a can of sardines with piri-piri (African malagueta/grain of paradise pepper sauce) and 3 slices of onion, there weren't any of those either.

   • 1981, António Garcia, A malta da Rua dos Plátanos [The Rabble of Plane Tree Street], Alfragide: Editorial Caminho, page 36:

     — É para fazer uma bifana, mãe — atreveu-se o Mário, trincando batatas fritas que tirava do prato, uma a uma, com a mão.

     "It's for making a pork sandwich, mom", Mário dared to say, smashing french fries he took out of his dish, one by one, with his hand.

   • 2010, Pedro Ramos, Detective Eliseu e o Caso do Morto Que Escrevia Cartas [Detective Eliseu and the Case of the Dead Man WHo Wrote Letters], Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 145:

     Deu meia volta, e enfiou-se na tasca da rua ao lado a comer uma bifana, acompanhada de uma meia de vinho tinto da casa.

     He turned around and went into the tavern on the next street to eat a pork sandwich, accompanied by a half-cup of the house's own red wine.

Further reading

• bifana on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^pt