What does “curtir” mean in Brazilian Portuguese?

Ciúmes da foto e a história da bike

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A2 Portuguese listening practice · Brazilian Portuguese · Picked for people who know a little

💡 Did you know?
curtir
Brazilian social-media verb
to like“ a post — but it really means ”to enjoy

In Brazil, curtir is the everyday verb for liking a post: meu marido curtiu essa foto means “my husband liked this photo.” But its base sense is “to enjoy” — curtir a praia, curtir um som, curtir a vida. So when Brazilians tap that little heart, they’re literally saying they “enjoyed” it, which makes a useful old word feel right at home in its modern online life.

Ask você curte futebol? and you mean “do you like / are you into soccer?” — broader and warmer than English “like.” The word reaches even further back: from Latin conterō (“to grind”), curtir first meant to tan leather or cure food, then figuratively “to endure” something hard, before settling into today’s “enjoy / party / like.” In the clip a wife is convinced her husband only curtiu a stranger’s photo por causa da bike — for the bicycle — the perfect everyday context to meet the verb in its social-media sense.

How common are the words?

How common are the words in this A2 Portuguese listening practice video?

90.8%
of words are in the top 2,000 most common Portuguese words
Most of the words in this video are common Portuguese words.

How common in written Portuguese

82.8%
Top 1,000
90.8%
Top 2,000
95.4%
Top 5,000

How common in spoken Portuguese

92.6%
Top 1,000
97.5%
Top 2,000
100%
Top 5,000
👄 Words for talking
This video uses words people often say in Portuguese.

Harder words in this video

These words are harder than A2. Here is what they mean.

curtiu
2×
Not in top 5,000
bike
2×
Not in top 5,000
(brand) bike — bicycle
risadas
2×
Not in top 5,000
fiel
1×
Top 5,000People say this a lot
faithful
deixa comigo
1×
I'll handle it or take care of it.

Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-PT-BR 2012 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.

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