What does “maneiro” mean in Brazilian Portuguese?

Maneiro is Rio de Janeiro’s word for “cool”: que maneiro! is “how cool!” and um cara maneiro is a nice, easygoing guy. It started as carioca slang and is now understood all over Brazil, though each region has its favourite, such as massa in the northeast. Europeans say fixe, so maneiro is one of the quickest ways to sound Brazilian.

It works as a one-word reply too. In the clip a young fighter says he trains in Boituva, and the interviewer answers just Maneiro. The feminine is maneira (uma festa maneira), and in the old sense maneiro meant something light and easy to handle, from Latin manus, “hand.” Close synonyms are legal and bacana.