What does “estopim” mean in Portuguese?

An estopim is literally the fuse on a firework or bomb — the cord that carries the flame to the explosion. In Portuguese, it’s the standard word for “the spark that set off” any conflict: a documentary narrating the Paraguayan War calls Paraguayan troops crossing into Argentine territory “o estopim” — the trigger — of the war. Reach for it any time one small event ignites something much bigger.

The word comes from estopa, the coarse hemp or flax fiber once twisted into cords for lighting fuses and fires — estopim is that cord, built as estop(a) + im. The figurative sense is everywhere in Portuguese news writing: o estopim da crise, o estopim da Primeira Guerra Mundial (the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand) — always the one incident historians point to as the match that lit the fire.