pouco

Galician

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese pouco, from Latin paucus, from Proto-Italic *paukos, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few”, “little”). Compare Portuguese pouco and Spanish poco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpowko̝/
• Rhymes: -owkʊ, -owko
• Hyphenation: pou‧co

Pronoun

pouco

1. a little of something; not enough
   • 1409, J. L. Pensado Tomé, editor, Tratado de Albeitaria, Santiago de Compostela: Centro Ramón Piñeiro, page 147:

     ponlle papuxas de farellos coytas en vinagre et con pouco de seuo

     apply a poultice of bran boiled in vinegar, with a little of tallow

   • 1813, anonymous author, Conversa no Adro da Igrexa:

     — [...] despois poñíanvos na tortura do potro, atandovos antes os pés e as más; despois levabades oito garrotes; e si con todo esto non confesabades, fasíanvos tragar unha chea d'agua para que arremedásedes os afogados. Mais esto era pouco, que remataban a festa poñendovos os pés encoiro untados de pingo nun sepo, e despois traían unha chea de lume pra frixílos, ou pra poñerllo debaixo, e outras mil xudiadas, tanto que ás veses nin aínda lles permitían confesarse.
     —¡Ave María! Eu confesaría o que me preguntasen, aún cando no'fixese.
     —Eu o mesmo.

     — [The Inquisition:] after this they would take you to the rack, tying your hands and your feet; after this they would hit you eight times with a club; and if, in spite of this, you didn't confess, then they obliged you to shallow a large quantity of water as if you should imitate a drowned man. But this was not enough, because they ended the celebration putting your bare feet, buttered with lard, in a clamp, and they would bring a large fire for frying them, or for putting them under it; and another thousand mean things. They even sometimes don't allowed them to confess.
     —Ave María! I would admit anything they would ask, even if I had not done it.
     —Me too.

2. a short while

Adjective

pouco (feminine pouca, masculine plural poucos, feminine plural poucas)

1. little; few (not many)
   • 1895, Antonio López Ferreiro, A tecedeira de Bonaval, A Coruña: Andrés Martínez, page 30:

     O que estaba aa súa esquerda, era tamén alto e roxo e encarnado como a graa. A pesar de ser o máis mozo dos catro, braceaba e berraba largo e tendido, e non se cansaba de falar. Os outros dous serían como de uns 50 anos. Un deles era de mediana estatura, bastante gordo, e parecía de moi boa pasta. O outro era pequeneiro, máis que moreno, alá non moi agraciado, e de poucas palabras

     The one on his left was also tall, redheaded and blushed as chochineal. In spite of being the youngest of the four men, he was waving and shouting long and hard, and he never get tired of talking. The other two were some 50 years old. One was of medium height, rather fat, and looked as he was of a good kind. The other was smallish, more than swarthy, not very handsome, and of few words

Adverb

pouco

1. little (not much or not often)
   • 1370, R. Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana. Introducción e texto, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 637:

     Et nõ podemos mellor mercar ca en cõprar nosas uidas, ca bẽ ueedes que pouco nos podemos ia defender, se esta guerra muyto dura.

     And we can't trade better than by acquiring our lives, 'cos you know well that little can we defend ourselves if this war takes much longer

2. for a short duration, while
   • 1459, Fernando Tato, editor, Libro de notas de Álvaro Pérez, page 182:

     diso que oýra diser a Johán de Njne, fillo de Estéuõo, que Ferrnando de Deyra leua[ra], pouco ha, hũu carro de salgeyros cortados por pee de Brandarís, cabo dos lagos da braña

     he said that he heard from Xoán of Nine, son of Estevo, that Fernando of Deira took away, a short while ago, a cart of willows cut down from Brandarís, by the lakes of the marsh

Derived terms

• a alegría do pobre dura pouco
• aos poucos
• de alí a pouco
• máis pouco
• por pouco
• pouco e pouco
• pouco máis ou menos
• pouco nin moito
• pouquiño
• pouquichiño
• pouquirrinchiño
• tampouco

References

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

Portuguese

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese pouco, from Latin paucus, from Proto-Italic *paukos, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European *peh₂w- (“few”, “little”). Compare Galician pouco and Spanish poco.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpo(w).ku/ [ˈpo(ʊ̯).ku]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpo(w).ku/ [ˈpo(ʊ̯).ku]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpo(w).ko/ [ˈpo(ʊ̯).ko]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpo(w).ku/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpo(w).ku/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpow.ku/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.ku/

• Rhymes: -owku, -oku
• Hyphenation: pou‧co

Pronoun

pouco m

1. little of something

   Compramos muita comida, mas sobrou pouco.

   We bought a lot of food, but little was left.

2. a short while

   Saímos há pouco.

   We left not long ago.

   Sairemos daqui a pouco.

   We will leave in a short while.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:pouco.

Determiner

pouco (feminine pouca, masculine plural poucos, feminine plural poucas)

1. little; few (not many)

   Poucas pessoas acreditam nisso.

   Few people believe it.

   Sobrou pouca comida e menos vinho.

   Little food was left and less wine.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:pouco.

Antonyms

• muito

Adverb

pouco

1. little (not much or not often)

   Synonym: dificilmente

   Antonyms: bastante, muito

   Ele lê pouco. ― He reads little.

2. for a short duration

   Antonyms: bastante, muito

   A alegria durou pouco. ― The happiness didn’t last long.

   A fila demorou pouco. ― The queue didn’t take long.

3. (archaic) small

   Synonym: pequena

   É uma vila pouca. ― It's a small village.

Quotations

For quotations using this term, see Citations:pouco.

Derived terms

• a pouco e pouco
• alegria de pobre dura pouco
• aos poucos
• daqui a pouco
• poucochinho
• poucos
• pouquinho
• pouquíssimo
• pouquito
• um pouco

 

Descendants

• Kabuverdianu: poku