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Chorar as pitangas

Portuguese

Meaning

To cry one's eyes out / To whine

Example

Depois que gastou tudo em besteira, ficou chorando as pitangas.

After spending everything on nonsense, he was crying his eyes out.

Origin

The most repeated account holds that chorar as pitangas is a Brazilian reworking of the older Portuguese chorar lágrimas de sangue ("to cry tears of blood"). The word pitanga comes from Tupi and evokes the colour red, so the blood-red tears became the deep-red pitanga cherry — and, by extension, eyes red from too much crying.

Source: Gramática.