au
Portuguese, interjection
au is spelled A-U (2 letters) and appears 12 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 6,384th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Au is a Portuguese interjection meaning “ouch (expression of minor physical pain)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). With an accent, aú is a different word: “cartwheel”. The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “indica dor, espanto ou terror”.
What does au mean in English?
interjection
- 1
ouch (expression of minor physical pain)
noun
- 1
masculinecartwheel
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
interjection: 1. indica dor, espanto ou terror 2. adeus
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of au
- ai alternative
- aús plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to au
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is au in Portuguese?
au appears 12 times per million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).