cheirar

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese cheirar (“to smell”) (13th, Cantigas de Santa Maria) from Vulgar Latin or Late Latin flāgrō, by dissimilation from Latin frāgrō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₂gro-, from *bʰreh₂g- (“to smell”) + *-ro-.

Cognate to Catalan flairar, English flair (through Old French flair), French flairer, Portuguese cheirar and Occitan flairar.

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃejˈɾaɾ/

cheirar (first-person singular present cheiro, first-person singular preterite cheirei, past participle cheirado)

1. (transitive) to smell (to perceive a smell with the nose)

   Cheiro a comida? ― Am I smelling food?

2. (transitive) to sniff
3. (intransitive) to have a particular smell

   Esta roupa cheira. A que cheira esta roupa? A fume? ― This clothes have a smell. What smell have theses clothes? Smoke?

4. (intransitive) to stink, to smell

   Cheiras. ― You stink.

5. (intransitive, figurative) to tire, bore, annoy

   As visitas e o pescado, ós dous días cheiran. (proverb) ― Visitors and fish, both "stink" the second day.

6. (transitive with a) to smell of (have the smell of)

   Cheira a comida. ― It smells like food.

   • c1295, R. Lorenzo (ed.), La traducción gallega de la Crónica General y de la Crónica de Castilla. Ourense: I.E.O.P.F., page 625:

     Et teu yrmão Fernã Gonçaluez, cõna muy grã coyta que ouue, sey(nd)o do paaço fugindo et saltou en hũu curral que nõ era muy limpo; et, quando el et seus panos ende seyrõ nõ cheyrauã a musgo

     And your brother Fernán González, with the great trouble he had, getting out of the palace and fleeing he jumped into a corral that was not very clean; and, when he finally got out of it, his clothes didn't smell of musk

7. (figurative) to sniff around, snoop

   Que andas a cheirar no meu cuarto? ― What are you doing in my room?

• (to have the smell of): ulir, recender
• (to have a strong bad smell): feder, alcatrear, abafar

• cheira que recende
• cheiro

• cheiracús
• cheirón
• cheirume
• cheirento

• “cheirar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “cheir” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “cheirar” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “cheirar” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “cheirar” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

From Old Portuguese cheirar (“to smell”), from Vulgar Latin, Late Latin flāgrō, by dissimilation from Latin frāgrō, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreh₂gro-, from *bʰreh₂g- (“to smell”) + *-ro-.

Cognate to Galician cheirar, Catalan and Occitan flairar, French flairer, and English flair (through Old French flair).

• (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): [t͡ʃeiˈɾaɾ], [t͡ʃeiˈɾa.ɾɨ]
• Hyphenation: chei‧rar

cheirar (first-person singular present cheiro, first-person singular preterite cheirei, past participle cheirado)

1. (transitive) to smell (to perceive a smell with the nose)

   Eu não consigo cheirar nada.

   I can't smell anything.

2. (transitive with a) to smell of (have the smell of)

   Esse perfume cheira a chocolate.

   That perfume smells like chocolate.

3. (transitive, intransitive) to snort (to use cocaine)

• (to have the smell of): exalar, odorar
• (to have a strong bad smell): feder, tresandar

• cheirador
• cheiricar
• cheiro

• fragrância
• fragrante

• farejar
• perfume