Portuguese · The Basics
Droga!
DROH-gah · /ˈdɾɔ.ɡa/
Darn! / Damn it!
1/5 Grandma-safe
mild, playful; fine on daytime TV
Literally
"Drug"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
The grandma-safe pressure valve — the word you reach for when kids are in the room. Same slot as "porra" but zero heat; you can say it at work and on TV. "Que droga" means "what a bummer." If a Brazilian says only this after stubbing a toe, they're being polite on purpose.
Heard in the wild
Droga, esqueci de salvar o arquivo.
Darn, I forgot to save the file.
Where it lands
Brazil (universal).
Quick answers
- What does "Droga!" mean?
- In Portuguese, "Droga!" means "Darn! / Damn it!". Literally it's "Drug". The grandma-safe pressure valve — the word you reach for when kids are in the room. Same slot as "porra" but zero heat; you can say it at work and on TV. "Que droga" means "what a bummer." If a Brazilian says only this after stubbing a toe, they're being polite on purpose.
- Is "Droga!" offensive?
- It's on the mild end — 1/5 (Grandma-safe) on the Punch-o-Meter. mild, playful; fine on daytime TV.
- How do you pronounce "Droga!"?
- Say it "DROH-gah" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ˈdɾɔ.ɡa.
Related in Portuguese
Porra! POH-hah Damn! / Fuck! — but mostly used as pure punctuation Caralho! kah-RAH-lyoo Fuck! / Hell! — exclamation and all-purpose intensifier Merda! MEHR-dah Shit! / Crap! Bosta! BOSS-tah Crap! / (a) piece of garbage Cacete! kah-SEH-chee Damn! / Bloody hell! — also 'a ton' as 'pra cacete' Que sacanagem! sah-kah-NAH-zhang That's so unfair! / What a low blow!
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Damn".
- French Putain ! Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really
- German Scheiße! Shit! / Damn! — the all-purpose German expletive
- Greek γαμώτο Damn it! / Dammit!
- Italian Cazzo! Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse.
- Japanese くそ Damn! / Crap! / Shit!
- Korean 씨발 Fuck / fucking hell — the load-bearing Korean curse.
- Polish kurwa Fuck / damn / shit — the load-bearing word of Polish, and its most common comma.
- Russian Блин! Damn! / Darn! / Shoot!
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