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Portuguese · The Porra Toolkit — Amplifiers & Punctuation

Do caralho

doo kah-RAH-lyoo · /du ka.ˈɾa.ʎu/

Fucking awesome — OR, with 'casa do', the middle of nowhere

3/5 Watch your audience

genuinely rude; friends only, never at work

Literally

"Of the dick"

Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.

How to use it

Two-faced. "Um carro do caralho" is a badass car — high praise. But "lá na casa do caralho" (or just "lá no caralho") is Brazilian geography for the ends of the earth: "o hotel fica na casa do caralho." Same word, opposite vibes; tone and the little "casa do" tell you which. Rude either way.

Heard in the wild

A festa foi do caralho, mas o bar ficava na casa do caralho.

The party was fucking great, but the bar was in the middle of nowhere.

Where it lands

Brazil (universal).

Quick answers

What does "Do caralho" mean?
In Portuguese, "Do caralho" means "Fucking awesome — OR, with 'casa do', the middle of nowhere". Literally it's "Of the dick". Two-faced. "Um carro do caralho" is a badass car — high praise. But "lá na casa do caralho" (or just "lá no caralho") is Brazilian geography for the ends of the earth: "o hotel fica na casa do caralho." Same word, opposite vibes; tone and the little "casa do" tell you which. Rude either way.
Is "Do caralho" 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 "Do caralho"?
Say it "doo kah-RAH-lyoo" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: du ka.ˈɾa.ʎu.

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 Cacete! kah-SEH-chee Damn! / Bloody hell! — also 'a ton' as 'pra cacete' Pra caralho prah kah-RAH-lyoo As hell / a shitload / extremely Puta calor POO-tah kah-LOR A hell of a ___ (as an intensifier before a noun) Pra cacete prah kah-SEH-chee A lot / tons / a ton

The same idea, elsewhere

Via concepts like "That's awesome".

how to say "That's awesome" →

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