álgido

See also: algido

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin algidus (“very cold”). See also Spanish álgido, Italian algente (“cold (poetic)”) and English algor.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈaw.ʒi.du/ [ˈaʊ̯.ʒi.du]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈaw.ʒi.du/ [ˈaʊ̯.ʒi.du]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈaw.ʒi.do/ [ˈaʊ̯.ʒi.do]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈal.ʒi.du/ [ˈaɫ.ʒi.ðu]

• Hyphenation: ál‧gi‧do

Adjective

álgido (feminine álgida, masculine plural álgidos, feminine plural álgidas)

1. (poetic, literary) ice-cold

   Synonyms: frígido, gelado, gélido, glacial

   • 1920, Camilo Pessanha, “Passou o outono já, já torna o frio”, in Clepsydra:

     Passou o outono já, já torna o frio… / —Outono do seu riso maguado. / Algido inverno! Obliquo o sol, gelado… / —O sol, e as aguas limpidas do rio.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 2010 July 10, Humberto Lopes, “Noite nos Andes”, in Público‎^[1]:

     O vento álgido sibila em todos os cantos: nas paredes de barro da igreja de San Juan, na frígida Pampa de Chalviri, na fronteira chilena do vulcão Licancábur, na solidão do deserto do Siloli, no refúgio de Alota, no Valle de las Rocas, […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (medicine) algid

Derived terms

• algidez

Further reading

• “álgido”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024
• “álgido”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin algidus (“very cold”), used in medical and poetic senses to describe coldness and stiffness. The figurative sense is perhaps derived from the frequently fatal algid stage of a fever (characterized by coldness as a result of shock).

See also Italian algente (“cold”) and English algor.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈalxido/ [ˈal.xi.ð̞o]
• Rhymes: -alxido
• Syllabification: ál‧gi‧do

Adjective

álgido (feminine álgida, masculine plural álgidos, feminine plural álgidas)

1. (figurative) decisive, critical, pivotal (of a moment or event)

   Synonyms: crítico, culminante

   • 2011 May 28, “Alemania eleva a 10 los muertos por el brote infeccioso”, in El País‎^[2]:

     Las autoridades sanitarias alemanas destacaron que aún no se ha alcanzado el punto álgido de la infección, por lo que instaron a los ciudadanos, especialmente en el norte del país—donde se han producido la gran mayoría de casos—a extremar las medidas de higiene.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. very cold
   • 1921, Emilio Bobadilla, “¡Es la guerra!”, in Rojeces de Marte:

     Un cielo heterodermo, álgido el aire; / los campos dormilentos y vacíos; / una luna tamaña de un albaire, / sin labriegos los tristes caseríos.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. (medicine) algid (low body temperature in connection with certain diseases)
   • (Can we date this quote?), Arturo Reyes, La bravía:

     Rosario, el día en que abandonara el lecho, sentóse a la puerta del edificio a respirar la perfumante brisa de aquella tarde de otoño: la dolencia había dejado en su persona sus huellas pálidas; su tez estaba descolorida; su cuerpo enjuto y falto de curvaturas; su pelo, antes abundante y negrísimo, había sido amputado en el período álgido de la fiebre que habíala tenido durante tantos días con vistas al Camposanto.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Derived terms

• algidez

 

References

• Roberts, Edward A. (2014) A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the Spanish Language with Families of Words based on Indo-European Roots, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN

Further reading

• “álgido”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 23rd edition, Royal Spanish Academy, 2014 October 16