gafinhâ

Macanese

Etymology

Unclear. Possibly from Portuguese gavinha (“tendril”) +‎ -â, with tendrils being compared to insect legs.[1]

Verb

gafinhâ

  1. to scrape, tickle or scratch with fingernails
  2. (idiomatic) to uncover, to ferret out, to search out something difficult to find
    Ondi vas já vai gafinhâ estunga pintura?
    Where did you uncover this painting?

Derived terms
  • gafinhâ ôsso di bur-bur (“used of an extremely nosy person who asks indiscreet questions”, literally “to search out bones of a boneless fish”)

References
  1. Batalha, Graciete Nogueira (1988) “gafinhar”, in Glossário do dialecto macaense: notas linguísticas, etnográficas e folclóricas [Glossary of the Macanese dialect: linguistic, ethnographic and folkloric notes], Macau: Instituto Cultural de Macau, page 450

Further reading
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