What does “dar gatilho” mean in Portuguese?

A gatilho is the trigger of a gun, the little lever your finger pulls to fire. Online, Brazilians borrowed that image for the mind: dar gatilho means to “trigger” someone — to set off anxiety, a painful memory, or a phobic reaction. So a song, a photo, or a creepy image can dar gatilho, firing off an emotional reaction the way a finger fires a shot.

The figurative sense is a direct calque of English “trigger/triggered,” which spread through mental-health and social-media talk; gatilho now also doubles as a content warning (“aviso de gatilho”). Here the creator paints realistic trypophobia makeup — tiny holes punched into fake skin — precisely para dar gatilho em tripofobia, then warns “quem tiver tripofobia, me desculpe.” Etymology bonus: gatilho comes from Spanish gatillo, a diminutive of gato (“cat”) — early firearm parts were carved as little cat or dog heads, which is also why the hammer is still called the cão (“dog”).