desvirar

Desvirar is a verb in Portuguese that primarily means to undo a turning or to bring something back to its proper orientation after it has flipped. The word is formed from the prefix des- (undo, reverse) and virar (to turn). In everyday use, desvirar can describe actions such as righting a canoe or a car that has overturned, or reorienting equipment that has been placed incorrectly. For example: desvirar o barco after a capsize, or desvirar o veículo to put it back on its wheels.

In figurative use, desvirar can also imply correcting or reversing a process that was going in the wrong direction, though this sense is less common and often replaced by expressões like voltar a virar ou mudar de rumo.

In Brazilian Portuguese, desvirar is widely used as informal slang meaning to lose virginity: to have sexual intercourse for the first time. This usage is informal and considered vulgar by some speakers; it is not appropriate in formal writing. Examples such as ele desvirou ontem or ela desvirou são understood in colloquial speech but are not used in official contexts.

Etymology: The prefix des- indicates reversal, while virar means to turn; together they extend to the literal sense of returning something from a turned state to upright, and, in slang, to the sexual sense through metaphor.

Usage notes: The sexual meaning is regionally restricted to Brazilian Portuguese and is informal. In formal Portuguese, this sense is avoided; more neutral expressions like perder a virgindade are preferred.