The Falando Atlas of Brazilian Portuguese
mosquito, muriçoca or carapanã — mosquito (nationwide); muriçoca (the Northeast); carapanã (the North).
Approximate. Usage varies by age, social group and context; a word can be heard outside the highlighted area.
Everyone knows mosquito, but in much of Brazil that is not the word people reach for when one is biting them.
Muriçoca is the Northeastern word — Caldas Aulete labels it "(Bras., Nordeste)" — and carapanã is the word across the North, which Priberam marks "[Brasil: Amazônia]". Both often refer to the big, slow, night-flying kind rather than to mosquitoes in general, which is worth knowing if you are trying to complain convincingly.
Pernilongo, the term many southeasterners use, is not shown on this map: both dictionaries label it simply "[Brasil]", so we have no source that ties it to a region. It will appear here when one is found.
mosquito
The general word for a mosquito, understood everywhere. Regional names are extremely common in speech — muriçoca in the Northeast, carapanã in the North, pernilongo in the Southeast and South.
O mosquito picou meu braço.The mosquito bit my arm.
Understood everywhere in Brazil.
mosquito
The ordinary Northeastern word for a mosquito, where São Paulo says pernilongo and Rio says muriçoca or carapanã. Fully neutral, used by everyone; from Tupi.
Em Salvador, o mosquito é chamado de muriçoca.In Salvador, the mosquito is called muriçoca.
mosquito
The Amazonian word for mosquito (from Tupi karapa'nã); in the Southeast the same insect is a pernilongo or muriçoca. Neutral, everyday vocabulary in the North.
Na Amazônia, o mosquito é chamado de carapanã.In the Amazon, the mosquito is called carapanã.
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