“Coconut”, “coconut” or “poop”? “Coconut” is a paroxysmal word that refers to the fruit that grows on the coconut tree. “Poop” is an oxytone word, synonymous with “feces”. The word “côco”, with a circumflex accent on the first syllable, is not accepted by the grammatical norms of the Portuguese language, despite being written a lot by speakers of the language.
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Topics in this article
- 1 - “Coco”, “côco” or “cocô”: which is correct?
- 2 - Video lesson: “Coco”, “côco” or “cocô”?
- 3 - What is “coconut”?
- 4 - What is “poop”?
- 5 - “Coco”, “poop” and accentuation
“Coconut”, “coconut” or “poop”: which is correct?
To the words “coco” (without accent) and “cocô” (with accent on the last syllable) are considered correct, according to the standard norms of the Portuguese language. They have different meanings.
Already the word “côco”, with an accent on the first syllable, is not accepted by normative grammar and is considered wrong, despite being written a lot by Portuguese speakers.
Video lesson: “Coco”, “coco” or “poo”?
What is “coconut”?
The word “coco”, without accent and with stress on the first syllable, refers to the fruit that comes from the coconut tree. It may also refer to a typical dance from some places in the Northeast region of Brazil.
See some examples:
I love drinking water coconut!
That coconut It's very hard, I can't open it.
When I was in Pernambuco, I attended a circle performance coconut.
Do not stop now... There's more after the advertising ;)
What is “poop”?
The word “poop”, with an accent and stress on the last syllable, is a synonym for “feces”, “excrement” and also a slang term to indicate poor quality.
See some examples:
To understand this disease, we will need to analyze the coconut of that animal.
I'm worried because it's been days since my son has been coconut.
I did a job that was truly coconut...
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“Coco”, “poop” and accentuation
See some doubts about accent in these two words.
Why does “coco” not have an accent?
Most words in the Portuguese language it's paroxytonous, that is, it has the stress on the penultimate syllable. Graphic accent is generally used to indicate that the stressed syllable is not the one the speaker would intuitively imagine.
The word “coco” is a paroxytone ending in -o and, as such, does not need an accent. It would only be accentuated if its ending made the speaker think that the stress could be at the end (for example, if it ended in -i or -u). As it is a paroxytone ending in -o, there is no justification for thinking that the stressed syllable is different from the penultimate one, therefore, graphic accent is not necessary.
Why does “poop” have an accent?
Already the word “poop”, for be oxytone and end in -o, it needs to be accented. Otherwise, it would be read as “coco”, with the accent on the penultimate.
Why is the spelling “côco” so common to see?
Despite not being considered correct by traditional grammar, the form “côco” is commonly written by Portuguese speakers. One hypothesis is the fear that, when people read “coconut”, they will confuse it with the word “poop”. Thus, the first syllable is accentuated to reinforce that it is not “poop”, but rather “coco”, with stress on the first syllable.
Sources:
AZEREDO, José Carlos de. Houaiss Grammar of the Portuguese Language. São Paulo: Parabola, 2021.
BECHARA, Evanildo. Modern Portuguese Grammar. 38th ed. Rio de Janeiro: New Frontier, 2015.
CEGAALLA, Domingos Paschoal. Brand new grammar of the Portuguese language. São Paulo: Companhia Editora Nacional, 2020.
CUNHA, Celso; CINTRA, Lindley. New grammar of contemporary Portuguese. 7th ed. Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, 2016.
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
VIANA, Guilherme. "“Coconut”, “coconut” or “poop”?"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/gramatica/coco-coco-ou-coco.htm. Accessed October 27, 2023.
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