piropo

Italian

Etymology

From Ancient Greek πυρωπός (purōpós, “fire-like”), from πῦρ (pûr, “fire”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /piˈrɔ.po/
• Rhymes: -ɔpo
• Hyphenation: pi‧rò‧po

Noun

piropo m (plural piropi)

1. (mineralogy) pyrope (a type of garnet)

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /piˈɾo.pu/

• Rhymes: -opu
• Hyphenation: pi‧ro‧po

Etymology 1

From Latin pyropus, from Ancient Greek πυρωπός (purōpós, “fire-colored”), from πῦρ (pûr, “fire”).

Noun

piropo m (plural piropos)

1. (mineralogy) pyrope (a type of garnet)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Spanish piropo.

Noun

piropo m (plural piropos)

1. (Portugal, informal) catcall; pick-up line

Further reading

• “piropo”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2024
• “piropo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2024

Spanish

FWOTD – 8 November 2015

Etymology

From Latin pyropus, from Ancient Greek πυρωπός (purōpós, “fire-colored”), from πῦρ (pûr, “fire”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /piˈɾopo/ [piˈɾo.po]

• Audio (Bolivia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -opo
• Syllabification: pi‧ro‧po

Noun

piropo m (plural piropos)

1. (mineralogy) pyrope (a type of garnet)
2. compliment, flattering comment

   Synonyms: adulación, camelo, flor, galantería, halago, lisonja, zalamería

   Mi novia casi nunca me dice piropos.

   My girlfriend hardly ever pays me compliments.

3. catcall; pick-up line (a comment of a sexual nature, usually made toward a passing woman)
   • 2010, Debbie Rusch, Marcela Dominguez, Lucia Caycedo Garner, Fuentes: Conversacion y gramática, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 297:

     Existe una costumbre en países de habla española llamada el piropo. El piropo suele ser una frase agradable que le dice normalmente un hombre en la calle a una mujer desconocida. Por lo general, no es apropiado que la mujer le haga […]

     There exists a tradition in Spanish-speaking countries called the catcall. The catcall is usually a pleasant remark said by a man to an unknown woman in the street. In general, it is not considered appropriate for a woman to make them […]

   • 2011, Jill Pellettieri, Norma Lopez-Burton, Rafael Gomez, Robert Hershberger, Susan Navey-Davis, Rumbos, Enhanced Edition, Cengage Learning, →ISBN:

     ¿Qué es un piropo? Los aficionados lo llaman “la poesía de la calle”. Para ellos, son sólo comentarios, cumplidos (compliments) dirigidos a una mujer en la calle para reconocer (acknowledge) su belleza sin esperar nada a cambio […]

     What is a catcall? Its fans call it "street poetry". To them, they're only comments and compliments towards a woman on the street which acknowledge her beauty without expecting anything in return […]

Derived terms

• piropear

 

Descendants

• → Portuguese: piropo

Further reading

• “piropo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2023 November 28