carallo

Galician

Alternative forms

caralho (reintegrationist)

Etymology

The etymology is unknown, but the most plausible source, on the basis of both semantics and historical phonology, appears to be unattested Latin *c(h)araculum, which would have been a Latinized diminutive of Ancient Greek χάραξ (khárax, “stick”). This also provides a single, phonologically coherent source for the cognates: Portuguese caralho, Spanish carajo and Catalan carall. Attempts to attribute Italian same-meaning cazzo to the same etymon fail on phonological grounds, as the /r/ of carajo (or its absence in cazzo) remains unexplained, and no Latin phonological sequence develops as both /x/ in Spanish and /tts/ in Italian. Otherwise, perhaps related to Breton kalc'h, Welsh cala,^[1] from a derivative of Proto-Celtic *kalgā.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /kaˈɾaɟo/ [kɑˈɾa̠.ɟʊ]
Rhymes: -aɟo
Hyphenation: ca‧ra‧llo

Noun

carallo m (plural carallos)

(vulgar) penis
Synonyms: pirola, pito, pixa
(vulgar) damn

Derived terms

Interjection

carallo

(slang, vulgar) shit!
(slang, vulgar) go to hell, piss off, fucking hell, fuck, damn it

References

Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “caralho”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “caral”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “carallo”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “carallo”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “carallo”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN
DRAG

^ Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “carajo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

[1] Joan Coromines, José A[ntonio] Pascual (1983–1991) “carajo”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critic Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary] (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos

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