tchau

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• chau, xau (Portugal)
• ciao (dated)

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ciao, from Venetan s-ciao (“slave”). Doublet of escravo, eslavo, esloveno, and esclavão / eslavão.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃaw/ [ˈt͡ʃaʊ̯]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃaw/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aw
• Hyphenation: tchau

Interjection

tchau

1. goodbye; bye; see you

   Synonyms: (somewhat formal) adeus, (Brazil) até mais, (Brazil, informal) até, (Brazil,informal, eye dialect) té, (Brazil,informal, regional, eye dialect) inté, (Brazil, slang) falou, (familiar) abraço

Derived terms

• tchau tchau
• tchauzinho

Noun

tchau m (plural tchaus)

1. goodbye (an instance of wishing goodbye, especially with the word tchau)

Further reading

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