cutucar

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• catucar (Brazil, regional, informal)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Tupi-Guarani *kutuk

Old Tupi kutuk

Proto-Italic *-āzi

▲

Latin -ereinflu.

Latin -āre

Old Galician-Portuguese -ar

Portuguese -ar

Portuguese cutucar

Adapted borrowing of Old Tupi kutuk (“to pierce”) +‎ -ar. The social media sense is a semantic loan from English poke.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ku.tuˈka(ʁ)/ [ku.tuˈka(h)]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ku.tuˈka(ʁ)/ [ku.tuˈka(h)]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ku.tuˈka(ɾ)/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ku.tuˈka(ʁ)/ [ku.tuˈka(χ)]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ku.tuˈka(ɻ)/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ku.tuˈkaɾ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ku.tuˈkaɾ/
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ku.tuˈka.ɾi/

• Hyphenation: cu‧tu‧car

Verb

cutucar (first-person singular present cutuco, first-person singular preterite cutuquei, past participle cutucado)(Brazil)

1. (transitive) to poke (to jab with a pointed object such as a finger or a stick)
2. (transitive, colloquial, social media) to poke (to notify another user) (Should we delete⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
   • 2014, Mônica d'Olliveira, Rodopios: Antologia, Goiânia: Filhos do Vento, →ISBN, page 19:

     Te cutuco no FB
     Pq quero
     Abs e bjs

     I poke you on FB
     Cuz I want
     Hugs and kisses

Conjugation

    Conjugation of cutucar (c-qu alternation) (See Appendix:Portuguese verbs)

	Singular			Plural
	First-person (eu)	Second-person (tu)	Third-person (ele / ela / você)	First-person (nós)	Second-person (vós)	Third-person (eles / elas / vocês)
Infinitive
Impersonal	cutucar
Personal	cutucar	cutucares	cutucar	cutucarmos	cutucardes	cutucarem
Gerund
	cutucando
Past participle
Masculine	cutucado			cutucados
Feminine	cutucada			cutucadas
Indicative
Present	cutuco	cutucas	cutuca	cutucamos	cutucais	cutucam
Imperfect	cutucava	cutucavas	cutucava	cutucávamos	cutucáveis	cutucavam
Preterite	cutuquei	cutucaste	cutucou	cutucamos1, cutucámos2	cutucastes	cutucaram
Pluperfect	cutucara	cutucaras	cutucara	cutucáramos	cutucáreis	cutucaram
Future	cutucarei	cutucarás	cutucará	cutucaremos	cutucareis	cutucarão
Conditional	cutucaria	cutucarias	cutucaria	cutucaríamos	cutucaríeis	cutucariam
Subjunctive
Present	cutuque	cutuques	cutuque	cutuquemos	cutuqueis	cutuquem
Imperfect	cutucasse	cutucasses	cutucasse	cutucássemos	cutucásseis	cutucassem
Future	cutucar	cutucares	cutucar	cutucarmos	cutucardes	cutucarem
Imperative
Affirmative		cutuca	cutuque	cutuquemos	cutucai	cutuquem
Negative (não)		não cutuques	não cutuque	não cutuquemos	não cutuqueis	não cutuquem

¹Brazilian Portuguese.
²European Portuguese.

Further reading

• “cutucar”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “cutucar”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025