pé de pau

Portuguese

FWOTD – 18 March 2018

Etymology

Literally, “wood tree”. Constructed on the model of pé de X, which refers to an individual plant, where X is something produced by the plant (e.g. pé de maçã (“apple tree”), pé de milho (“cornstalk”), pé de canela (“cinnamon tree”)).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ d͡ʒi ˈpaw/ [ˈpɛ d͡ʒi ˈpaʊ̯]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ d͡ʒi ˈpaw/ [ˈpɛ d͡ʒi ˈpaʊ̯]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ de ˈpaw/ [ˈpɛ de ˈpaʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ dɨ ˈpaw/ [ˈpɛ ðɨ ˈpaw]

Noun

pé de pau m (plural pés de pau)

1. (Northeast Brazil) a tree of an uncertain, unknown or irrelevant species
   • Luzia Tereza dos Santos, Maria Garrancho in 2001, Altimar Pimentel, Estórias de Luzia Tereza, volume 2, Thesaurus Editora, page 91:

     A águia tomou avôo, foi embora para muito longe, foi baixar num pé de pau em frente do reinado.

     The eagle took flight, went far away, and landed on a random tree in front of the kingdom.

   Synonym: pé de árvore

2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see pé,‎ de,‎ pau.