esfregar
Portuguese, verb/is.fɾeˈɡa(ʁ)/
esfregar is spelled E-S-F-R-E-G-A-R (8 letters) and appears 3.5 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 15,528th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Esfregar is a Portuguese verb meaning “to rub (move one object while maintaining contact with another object over some area)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “sujeitar a superfície (de algo ou de uma pessoa) a pressão e fricção com o intuito de limpar, polir…”.
What does esfregar mean in English?
verb
- 1
to rub (move one object while maintaining contact with another object over some area)
- 2
to clean by rubbing
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
verb: 1. sujeitar a superfície (de algo ou de uma pessoa) a pressão e fricção com o intuito de limpar, polir, massagear etc 2. mover algo para frente e para trás ou em movimento rotatório contra a superfície de algo 3. espalhar ou aplicar algo com pressão e fricção em algo ou alguém 4. movimentar (duas coisas) uma contra a outra
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 esfregar
- esfrego first-person present singular
- esfreguei first-person preterite singular
- esfregado participle past
- g-gu alternation
- esfregares infinitive second-person singular
- esfregarmos first-person infinitive plural
- esfregardes infinitive plural second-person
- esfregarem infinitive plural third-person
- esfregando gerund
- esfregados masculine participle past
- esfregada feminine participle past
- esfregadas feminine participle past
- esfregas indicative present second-person
- esfrega indicative present singular
- esfregamos first-person indicative plural
- esfregais indicative plural present
- esfregam indicative plural present
- esfregava first-person imperfect indicative
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce esfregar?
- Brazil /is.fɾeˈɡa(ʁ)/
- Brazil [is.fɾeˈɡa(h)]
- Brazil /es.fɾeˈɡa(ʁ)/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to esfregar
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is esfregar in Portuguese?
esfregar appears 3.5 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).