Portuguese · Hand Gestures · hand gesture
Dedo do meio
The finger / flipping someone off
3/5 Watch your audience
genuinely rude; friends only, never at work
The gesture
"Middle finger raised, other fingers folded down"
What your hand is actually doing.
How to use it
The globally understood middle finger works exactly as you'd expect in Brazil. "Mostrar o dedo" is to flip someone off. Common in road rage and heated arguments; genuinely rude and provocative. Same meaning, same risk as anywhere — a real escalation, not a joke with strangers.
Heard in the wild
Ela mostrou o dedo do meio pra quem buzinou.
She flipped off the guy who honked.
Where it lands
Brazil (universal).
Quick answers
- What does "Dedo do meio" mean?
- In Portuguese, "Dedo do meio" means "The finger / flipping someone off". Literally it's "Middle finger raised, other fingers folded down". The globally understood middle finger works exactly as you'd expect in Brazil. "Mostrar o dedo" is to flip someone off. Common in road rage and heated arguments; genuinely rude and provocative. Same meaning, same risk as anywhere — a real escalation, not a joke with strangers.
- Is "Dedo do meio" offensive?
- It's genuinely rude — a 3/5 (Watch your audience) on the Punch-o-Meter. Fine among friends, never at work or with people you've just met.
- How do you pronounce "Dedo do meio"?
- This one's a hand gesture — there's nothing to pronounce. Middle finger raised, other fingers folded down.
Related in Portuguese
Banana gesture Up yours! / Screw you! O sinal do 'OK' gesture Asshole — a genuine insult in Brazil Chifrinho gesture You're a cuckold / your partner cheats on you Porra! POH-hah Damn! / Fuck! — but mostly used as pure punctuation Caralho! kah-RAH-lyoo Fuck! / Hell! — exclamation and all-purpose intensifier Que porra é essa? keh POH-hah eh EH-sah What the fuck is this? / What the hell is going on?
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Screw you".
- French Enculé ! Motherf***er / bastard (one of the hardest personal insults)
- German Verpiss dich! Piss off! / Clear off (with force)!
- Greek άντε γαμήσου Go fuck yourself / get lost / piss off.
- Italian Vaffanculo! Fuck off! / Go to hell!
- Japanese クソ野郎 Piece of shit / shitty bastard
- Korean 개새끼 Son of a bitch / bastard — a real insult with no soft reading.
- Polish ty kurwo You whore / you bitch — the aimed kurwa, a different animal entirely.
- Russian Средний палец Screw you / the finger
Reviewed by native speakers. Rate it differently? Tell us what we got wrong.