cabéça

See also: cabeça and cabəca

Macanese

Alternative forms

• (unadapted) cabeça

Etymology

From Portuguese cabeça. Sense 3 most likely a semantic loan from Cantonese 頭／头.

Noun

cabéça

1. (anatomy) head (part of the body)

   cabéça-di-bonzo ― soup prepared in a bain-marie using the skin of a winter gourd (literally, “head of monk”)

   cabéça-di-vento ― forgetful, head in the clouds (literally, “head of wind/air”)

   cabéça-di-cobra ― trafficker of illegal immigrants (literally, “head of snake”)

2. (figurative) mind

   quebrâ cabéça ― to dwell on one topic; to search for a solution to a problem (literally, “to break head”)

   cabéça di atum ― trickster

   cabéça-grandi ― innovator; ringleader (literally, “big head”)

3. leader, chief, controller

   Synonym: máno

   cabéça-di-cúli ― stevedore at the docks and markets responsible for a team of coolies (literally, “head of coolie(s)”)

   cabéça-di-hui ― person who chairs and presides over the meetings of the hui

   cabéça-di-lorcha ― captain of a boat (literally, “head of lorcha”)

Usage notes

• cabéça-di-cobra is a calque of Cantonese 蛇頭／蛇头 (se⁴ tau⁴).

See also

• cabeçada
• cabeçudo
• teu cabeça

References

• Batalha, Graciete Nogueira (1988) “cabeça”, 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 331
• https://www.macaneselibrary.org/pub/english/uipatua.htm#c