Polyglot Dictionary

porco-espinho

/ˌpoɾkuisˈpiɲu/

o noun B2

o (masc.) a (fem.)

Underline = a spelling pattern that usually signals that gender.

N Register Neutral Era Current Frequency Common Domain General Tone Neutral

Forms

plural
os porcos-espinhos

Meaning

  1. porcupine

    Built from porco (pig) + espinho (spine).

    • O porco-espinho eriçou os espinhos.

      The porcupine bristled its quills.

N Category Thing Concreteness Concrete Animacy Inanimate Countability Countable Scope Individual

Made of

  • porco pig
  • espinho spine

Similar words

ouriço

Worth distinguishing: a hedgehog (ouriço) and a porcupine (porco-espinho) are similar spiny animals often confused.

Similar in other languages

Spanish

puercoespín

puercoespín is the Spanish word for the same thing — both mean "porcupine."

Practice

1 What does porco-espinho mean?

2 Fill the gap: O porco-espinho eriçou os ___.

3 Which fingerprint chart matches porco-espinho?

nouncompound

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