Sextou

2015Catchphrase / hashtagactive

Also known as: Fridayed · #Sextou · TGIF brasileiro

Sextou is a 2015 Brazilian Portuguese hashtag and catchphrase from a forró song by Forró da Pegação that celebrates Friday by turning 'sexta' into a verb.

Sextou is a Brazilian Portuguese slang term and hashtag used to celebrate the arrival of Friday, functioning as the Brazilian equivalent of TGIF. Born from a 2015 forró song by the group Forró da Pegação, the expression turned the noun "sexta" (Friday) into a verb, roughly translating to "Fridayed"1. The term gained international attention in 2018 when English-speaking Instagram users misinterpreted #sextou as "sex to u" and flooded the hashtag with pornographic content, prompting Instagram to block it3.

slang memesbrazilian memeshashtag memesplatform censorship memesmusic memes

Overview

Sextou is a neologism created by treating the Portuguese word for Friday, "sexta-feira" (often shortened to just "sexta"), as a verb. The suffix "-ou" mirrors the third-person past tense conjugation for "-ar" verbs in Portuguese, making "sextou" literally translate to something like "it Fridayed"1. In practice, Brazilians use the word every Friday to announce that the weekend is here and it's time to relax or party5.

The expression shows up everywhere in Brazilian internet culture. People drop it in Instagram captions, TikTok videos, Twitter posts, and workplace group chats the moment Friday hits. It's commonly paired with images or clips of people dancing, leaving work, or raising drinks4.

The linguistic roots of sextou trace back to a process called verbification, where a noun gets turned into a verb. In Portuguese, "sexta-feira" means Friday (literally "sixth day"), and Brazilians routinely shorten it to "sexta." By adding the "-ou" past tense suffix, the word transforms into a playful declaration that Friday has arrived2.

The term was popularized through music. On March 16, 2015, the Brazilian forró group Forró da Pegação released a music video for their song "Sextou" on YouTube4. The song follows a worker grinding through the week until he can finally gather his friends to party on Friday. The video picked up 3.4 million views over the following eight years4.

A major boost came on October 28, 2015, when artists Israel Novaes and Wesley Safadão released a cover version of the song, spreading the term even further across Brazil4.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (original song), Instagram (hashtag spread)
Key People
Forró da Pegação, Israel Novaes and Wesley Safadão
Date
2015

The linguistic roots of sextou trace back to a process called verbification, where a noun gets turned into a verb. In Portuguese, "sexta-feira" means Friday (literally "sixth day"), and Brazilians routinely shorten it to "sexta." By adding the "-ou" past tense suffix, the word transforms into a playful declaration that Friday has arrived.

The term was popularized through music. On March 16, 2015, the Brazilian forró group Forró da Pegação released a music video for their song "Sextou" on YouTube. The song follows a worker grinding through the week until he can finally gather his friends to party on Friday. The video picked up 3.4 million views over the following eight years.

A major boost came on October 28, 2015, when artists Israel Novaes and Wesley Safadão released a cover version of the song, spreading the term even further across Brazil.

How It Spread

After the song took off, #sextou quickly became one of Brazil's most-used Friday hashtags. The tag accumulated over 9.2 million posts on Instagram as of March 2023. Every Friday, Brazilian social media fills up with sextou-themed content, from memes featuring TV hosts to clips of people dancing at their desks.

The Brazilian TV channel SBT used the term in a Facebook meme posted on April 27, 2018, showing a TV host with overlay text reading "I'm thanking God because today is Friday".

On TikTok, the hashtag #sextou reached 5 billion views. A TikTok by @luiscunha posted on April 22, 2022, featured a character dancing with the text "Friday coming while I'm at work" and pulled 202,700 plays. Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho also jumped in, posting a sextou TikTok on July 1, 2022, that hit 36 million plays and 2.2 million likes.

The term's most infamous moment came in late August 2018. English-speaking Instagram users, unfamiliar with Portuguese, read #sextou as "sex to u" and began using it to post erotic and pornographic content. The misunderstanding spread fast enough that Instagram stepped in. On September 5, 2018, the platform blocked the hashtag entirely, making it unsearchable. Instagram released a statement (translated from Portuguese): "We thank our community for bringing the problem with the hashtag #sextou to our attention. Posts with this hashtag have been limited while we take appropriate action".

The incident became a story in itself. Brazilian outlet G1 covered the controversy, and the collision between Brazilian Friday celebrations and English-language adult content became a running joke in both language communities. The hashtag was eventually restored, though the "sex to u" misreading became part of sextou's lore.

How to Use This Meme

Using sextou is simple. When Friday arrives, typically around the end of the workday, post or say "Sextou!" to announce the weekend is here. Common formats include:

1

Caption drop: Post a photo or selfie on Friday with the caption "#sextou" or just "Sextou!"

2

Video format: Share a clip of someone dancing, leaving work, or celebrating, with "Sextou" as overlay text

3

Reaction meme: Pair the word with a reaction image showing excitement, relief, or party mode

4

Group chat: Drop "sextou" in work or friend group chats as a Friday greeting

Cultural Impact

Sextou moved well beyond internet slang into mainstream Brazilian culture. Major brands, TV networks like SBT, and public figures including Ronaldinho adopted the term for their Friday social media posts. The word entered everyday spoken Portuguese in Brazil, used in offices, bars, and family gatherings alike.

The 2018 Instagram incident turned sextou into an international talking point about cross-language misunderstandings on social media. Brazilian users found humor in the situation while also expressing frustration that their celebratory hashtag got hijacked. The episode highlighted how global platforms can create unexpected collisions between linguistic communities.

As linguistics writer Gabriela Martins noted, verbifying nouns is common in both Portuguese and English ("I'll text you," "let me Google that"), but sextou stands out as one of the rare cases where a verbified day-of-the-week term went viral.

Fun Facts

The word "sexta-feira" literally means "sixth day" in Portuguese, making "sextou" a verb form of a number.

Ronaldinho's sextou TikTok pulled more views (36 million) than the original Forró da Pegação music video that coined the term (3.4 million).

The Instagram block on #sextou in 2018 was triggered not by Brazilian users but by English speakers who didn't know Portuguese.

Despite "sextou" looking like it contains the English word "sex," it has zero sexual connotation in Portuguese.

Portuguese speakers verbify days and other nouns regularly, but sextou is the only day-of-the-week verb to become a standalone cultural expression.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sextou

2015Catchphrase / hashtagactive

Also known as: Fridayed · #Sextou · TGIF brasileiro

Sextou is a 2015 Brazilian Portuguese hashtag and catchphrase from a forró song by Forró da Pegação that celebrates Friday by turning 'sexta' into a verb.

Sextou is a Brazilian Portuguese slang term and hashtag used to celebrate the arrival of Friday, functioning as the Brazilian equivalent of TGIF. Born from a 2015 forró song by the group Forró da Pegação, the expression turned the noun "sexta" (Friday) into a verb, roughly translating to "Fridayed". The term gained international attention in 2018 when English-speaking Instagram users misinterpreted #sextou as "sex to u" and flooded the hashtag with pornographic content, prompting Instagram to block it.

slang memes brazilian memes hashtag memes platform censorship memes music memes

Overview

Sextou is a neologism created by treating the Portuguese word for Friday, "sexta-feira" (often shortened to just "sexta"), as a verb. The suffix "-ou" mirrors the third-person past tense conjugation for "-ar" verbs in Portuguese, making "sextou" literally translate to something like "it Fridayed". In practice, Brazilians use the word every Friday to announce that the weekend is here and it's time to relax or party.

The expression shows up everywhere in Brazilian internet culture. People drop it in Instagram captions, TikTok videos, Twitter posts, and workplace group chats the moment Friday hits. It's commonly paired with images or clips of people dancing, leaving work, or raising drinks.

The linguistic roots of sextou trace back to a process called verbification, where a noun gets turned into a verb. In Portuguese, "sexta-feira" means Friday (literally "sixth day"), and Brazilians routinely shorten it to "sexta." By adding the "-ou" past tense suffix, the word transforms into a playful declaration that Friday has arrived.

The term was popularized through music. On March 16, 2015, the Brazilian forró group Forró da Pegação released a music video for their song "Sextou" on YouTube. The song follows a worker grinding through the week until he can finally gather his friends to party on Friday. The video picked up 3.4 million views over the following eight years.

A major boost came on October 28, 2015, when artists Israel Novaes and Wesley Safadão released a cover version of the song, spreading the term even further across Brazil.

Origin & Background

Platform
YouTube (original song), Instagram (hashtag spread)
Key People
Forró da Pegação, Israel Novaes and Wesley Safadão
Date
2015

The linguistic roots of sextou trace back to a process called verbification, where a noun gets turned into a verb. In Portuguese, "sexta-feira" means Friday (literally "sixth day"), and Brazilians routinely shorten it to "sexta." By adding the "-ou" past tense suffix, the word transforms into a playful declaration that Friday has arrived.

The term was popularized through music. On March 16, 2015, the Brazilian forró group Forró da Pegação released a music video for their song "Sextou" on YouTube. The song follows a worker grinding through the week until he can finally gather his friends to party on Friday. The video picked up 3.4 million views over the following eight years.

A major boost came on October 28, 2015, when artists Israel Novaes and Wesley Safadão released a cover version of the song, spreading the term even further across Brazil.

How It Spread

After the song took off, #sextou quickly became one of Brazil's most-used Friday hashtags. The tag accumulated over 9.2 million posts on Instagram as of March 2023. Every Friday, Brazilian social media fills up with sextou-themed content, from memes featuring TV hosts to clips of people dancing at their desks.

The Brazilian TV channel SBT used the term in a Facebook meme posted on April 27, 2018, showing a TV host with overlay text reading "I'm thanking God because today is Friday".

On TikTok, the hashtag #sextou reached 5 billion views. A TikTok by @luiscunha posted on April 22, 2022, featured a character dancing with the text "Friday coming while I'm at work" and pulled 202,700 plays. Brazilian football legend Ronaldinho also jumped in, posting a sextou TikTok on July 1, 2022, that hit 36 million plays and 2.2 million likes.

The term's most infamous moment came in late August 2018. English-speaking Instagram users, unfamiliar with Portuguese, read #sextou as "sex to u" and began using it to post erotic and pornographic content. The misunderstanding spread fast enough that Instagram stepped in. On September 5, 2018, the platform blocked the hashtag entirely, making it unsearchable. Instagram released a statement (translated from Portuguese): "We thank our community for bringing the problem with the hashtag #sextou to our attention. Posts with this hashtag have been limited while we take appropriate action".

The incident became a story in itself. Brazilian outlet G1 covered the controversy, and the collision between Brazilian Friday celebrations and English-language adult content became a running joke in both language communities. The hashtag was eventually restored, though the "sex to u" misreading became part of sextou's lore.

How to Use This Meme

Using sextou is simple. When Friday arrives, typically around the end of the workday, post or say "Sextou!" to announce the weekend is here. Common formats include:

1

Caption drop: Post a photo or selfie on Friday with the caption "#sextou" or just "Sextou!"

2

Video format: Share a clip of someone dancing, leaving work, or celebrating, with "Sextou" as overlay text

3

Reaction meme: Pair the word with a reaction image showing excitement, relief, or party mode

4

Group chat: Drop "sextou" in work or friend group chats as a Friday greeting

Cultural Impact

Sextou moved well beyond internet slang into mainstream Brazilian culture. Major brands, TV networks like SBT, and public figures including Ronaldinho adopted the term for their Friday social media posts. The word entered everyday spoken Portuguese in Brazil, used in offices, bars, and family gatherings alike.

The 2018 Instagram incident turned sextou into an international talking point about cross-language misunderstandings on social media. Brazilian users found humor in the situation while also expressing frustration that their celebratory hashtag got hijacked. The episode highlighted how global platforms can create unexpected collisions between linguistic communities.

As linguistics writer Gabriela Martins noted, verbifying nouns is common in both Portuguese and English ("I'll text you," "let me Google that"), but sextou stands out as one of the rare cases where a verbified day-of-the-week term went viral.

Fun Facts

The word "sexta-feira" literally means "sixth day" in Portuguese, making "sextou" a verb form of a number.

Ronaldinho's sextou TikTok pulled more views (36 million) than the original Forró da Pegação music video that coined the term (3.4 million).

The Instagram block on #sextou in 2018 was triggered not by Brazilian users but by English speakers who didn't know Portuguese.

Despite "sextou" looking like it contains the English word "sex," it has zero sexual connotation in Portuguese.

Portuguese speakers verbify days and other nouns regularly, but sextou is the only day-of-the-week verb to become a standalone cultural expression.

Frequently Asked Questions