Carcamano () is an

ethnic slur The following is a list of ethnic slurs or ethnophaulisms or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnicity or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pejorative, or oth ...

used in Southern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

for the descendants of the non- Iberian

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an immigrants who arrived in Brazil in the late 19th century and in the early 20th century. This name was originally given to the

Italian-Brazilian Italian Brazilians ( it, italo-brasiliani, pt, ítalo-brasileiros) are Brazilians of full or partial Italian descent. Italian Brazilians are the largest number of people with full or partial Italian ancestry outside Italy, with São Paulo being ...

s, the largest non-Iberian European community in Brazil, but was slowly spread to other non-Iberian

white Brazilian White Brazilians ( pt, brasileiros brancos ) refers to Brazilian citizens who are considered or self-identify as "white", typically because of European or Levantine descent. The main ancestry of current white Brazilians is Portuguese. Histori ...

communities like

German-Brazilian German Brazilians (German language, German: ''Deutschbrasilianer'', Hunsrik: ''Deitschbrasiliooner'', pt, teuto-brasileiros) refers to Brazilians of full or partial Germans, German ancestry. German Brazilians live mostly in the country's South ...

s, Slavic-Brazilians and others. In some regions of Northeastern Brazil (especially the states of

Maranhão Maranhão () is a state in Brazil. Located in the country's Northeast Region, it has a population of about 7 million and an area of . Clockwise from north, it borders on the Atlantic Ocean for 2,243 km and the states of Piauí, Tocantins and ...

and

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

), this term is also used for

Brazilian Jew The history of the Jews in Brazil begins during the settlement of Europeans in the new world. Although only baptized Christians were subject to the Inquisition, Jews started settling in Brazil when the Inquisition reached Portugal, in the 16th ...

s and

Arab Brazilian Arab Brazilians are Brazilian citizens of Arab ethnic, cultural, linguistic heritage and identity. The majority of Arab Brazilians trace their origin to the Levantine region of the Arab World, known in Arabic as ''Bilad al-Sham'', primarily f ...

s.Novas Visões de São Paulo
April 16th, 2007

Folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

wrongly advocates that the word ''carcamano'' is composed of two separate words. ''Calca-'' drawn from the Italian verb ''calcare'', which means "to press down" and ''-mano'' (IT) meaning "hand". The idea was to refer to the foreigner, probably of Italian origin (whence ''mano'', vs. Portuguese ''mão''), of pressing down on the scales when weighing goods in the dry goods or grocery store. It is a way of calling the vendor a cheat. The real etymological base of the word is disputed. According to the Brazilian filologist

Antenor Nascentes Antenor de Veras Nascentes (1886–1972) was a Brazilian philologist, etymologist, and lexicographer. He wrote the first etymological dictionary of Brazil. He also had an interest in dialect and experimental phonetics. He did analysis of popular sp ...

the most probable origin is the Spanish-language word ''carcamán'', used in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

to denote "decrepit person" (in

Perú , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy fo ...

), a poor foreigner (in

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

), pretentious person with few merits (in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

) and

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

- in particular Italians from Liguria - (in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

References

Ethnic groups in Brazil Ethnic groups in Latin America Ethnic groups in the Americas Ethno-cultural designations Italian emigrants to Brazil Italian-Brazilian culture Portuguese words and phrases {{Brazil-ethno-group-stub