cair
Portuguese, verb/kaˈi(ʁ)/
cair is spelled C-A-I-R (4 letters) and appears 63 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 1,529th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Cair is a Portuguese verb meaning “to fall; to fall down; to drop” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “dar queda”.
What does cair mean in English?
verb
- 1
to fall; to fall down; to drop
A maçã caiu.
- 2
to fall (to fall so it is no longer attached to or on top of something)
O livro caiu da mesa.
- 3
to fall; to collapse (to be overthrown, defeated or annulled)
O novo governo logo cairá.
- 4
to suit (to be appropriate or suitable), to be fitting
Um vestido preto cairia bem nela.
- 5
to go down (of food) (to be eaten with or without causing indigestion)
Essa pizza podre me caiu mal.
- 6
to fall, to decrease (to lower in value or quantity)
Espero que o preço dos livros caia.
- 7
to get disconnected, to be interrupted (of a call or connection)
Caiu a ligação.
- 8
to fall (to die in battle)
Muitos dos nossos soldados caíram naquela guerra.
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
verb: 1. dar queda 2. ir ao chão 3. desabar; tombar 4. ir dar a
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 cair
- caio first-person present singular
- caí first-person preterite singular
- caído participle past
- caíres infinitive second-person singular
- cairmos first-person infinitive plural
- cairdes infinitive plural second-person
- caírem infinitive plural third-person
- caindo gerund
- cais indicative present second-person
- cai indicative present singular
- caímos first-person indicative plural
- caís indicative plural present
- caem indicative plural present
- caía first-person imperfect indicative
- caías imperfect indicative second-person
- caíamos first-person imperfect indicative
- caíeis imperfect indicative plural
- caíam imperfect indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce cair?
- Brazil /kaˈi(ʁ)/
- Brazil [kaˈi(h)]
- /kaˈi(ɾ)/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to cair
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is cair in Portuguese?
cair appears 63 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).