joão sem braço

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• joão-sem-braço (pre-1990 spelling)
• João-sem-braço, João sem braço (misspelling)

Etymology

Literally, “armless Joe”, a reference to those who, pretending to be war maimed to get alms, would tie one or both arms under their clothes.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒoˈɐ̃w̃ ˈsẽj̃ ˈbɾa.su/ [ʒoˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃ ˈsẽɪ̯̃ ˈbɾa.su], /ʒuˈɐ̃w̃ ˈsẽj̃ ˈbɾa.su/ [ʒʊˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃ ˈsẽɪ̯̃ ˈbɾa.su], (faster pronunciation) /ˈʒwɐ̃w̃ ˈsẽj̃ ˈbɾa.su/ [ˈʒwɐ̃ʊ̯̃ ˈsẽɪ̯̃ ˈbɾa.su]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒoˈɐ̃w̃ ˈsẽj̃ ˈbɾa.su/ [ʒoˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃ ˈsẽɪ̯̃ ˈbɾa.su], /ʒuˈɐ̃w̃ ˈsẽj̃ ˈbɾa.su/ [ʒʊˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃ ˈsẽɪ̯̃ ˈbɾa.su], (faster pronunciation) /ˈʒwɐ̃w̃ ˈsẽj̃ ˈbɾa.su/ [ˈʒwɐ̃ʊ̯̃ ˈsẽɪ̯̃ ˈbɾa.su]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ʒoˈɐ̃w̃ ˈsẽj̃ ˈbɾa.so/ [ʒoˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃ ˈsẽɪ̯̃ ˈbɾa.so]

• Rhymes: -asu
• Hyphenation: jo‧ão sem bra‧ço

Noun

joão sem braço m (plural joões sem braços)

1. (informal, Brazil) a person who avoids their obligations by citing excuses
   • 2020 January 21, Leonel Andrade, “Corte a cabeça do João sem braço”, in Neofeed:

     O João sem braço designa alguém que foge das obrigações, que está sempre inventando alguma desculpa e se fazendo de desentendido para tirar alguma vantagem da situação.

     The "armless Joe" designates someone that avoids their obligations, that is always inventing some excuse and that pretends to be misunderstanding to take some advantage from the situation.

   • 2020 June 30, Augusto Nunes, “De onde vêm as palavras: Dar uma de João-sem-braço”, in Veja‎^[1], archived from the original on 2022-05-18:

     Originalmente, o pedinte amarrava sob a roupa um dos braços ou os dois, fingindo ser mutilado de guerra para obter a esmola pretendida, dando uma de joão-sem-braço. Mas havia outros sinceros joões-sem-braços  […]

     Originally, the asker tied one or both of his arms under his clothes, faking being disabled from war to get bribes, faking being an "armless Joe". But there were other sincere "armless Joes"  […]

References

• Taysa Coelho “Dar uma de João-sem-braço”, in Dicionário Popular (in Portuguese)
• Augusto Nunes (2020 June 30) “De onde vêm as palavras: Dar uma de João-sem-braço”, in Veja‎^[2] (in Portuguese), archived from the original on 2022-05-18

Further reading

• “joão sem braço”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025