Cuspir

Cuspir is a Portuguese verb meaning to spit or to expel saliva. It is used both literally, for the act of projecting saliva, and figuratively, to express contempt or hostility, as in phrases like cuspir veneno. The verb is transitive and can be accompanied by locatives or objects when describing the act.

In Portuguese, cuspir is a regular -ir verb, so its present tense forms follow standard endings: eu cuspo, tu cuspes, ele cuspe, nós cuspimos, vós cuspís, eles cuspem. The pretérito perfeito (simple past) forms are cuspi, cuspeste, cuspiu, cuspimos, cuspistes, cuspiram, and the past participle is cuspido, used with auxiliary ter or haver to form compound tenses.

Regional usage centers on Portuguese, with cuspir as the standard term in both Brazilian and European varieties. In many Spanish-speaking contexts, the common verb for “to spit” is escupir; cuspir is not typically used as the everyday form, though it may appear in historical or regional texts or in discussions of Portuguese linguistics. The Iberian Romance languages share a family of verbs related to spitting, reflecting a common semantic field across the language group.

Etymology is rooted in the Romance language family, and cuspir is cognate with related verbs in Iberian languages that express spitting or expelling saliva. The form and meaning have remained stable across centuries within Portuguese, contributing to its continued use in both literal and metaphorical senses.