Jiu Jitsu Positions in Portuguese: Guarda, Montada, and the Rest
Guard, mount, side control — all of them have Brazilian names, and several are better than ours. Side control is cem quilos, "a hundred kilos," named for what it feels like underneath. Here's the full map, from the ground positions to the submissions, with what each name literally means.
Jiu jitsu's position names are Portuguese even when the class is taught in English. Some of them made the crossing intact — nobody translates berimbolo — while others got swapped for English equivalents so early that most people never learn the original. Guard, mount, side control: all of them have Brazilian names, and several are better than ours.
Here's the full map, from the ground positions to the submissions, with what each name literally means. A few of them will change how you think about the position.
The Short Answer
The core positions in Portuguese are guarda (guard), meia-guarda (half guard), montada (mount), cem quilos (side control), joelho na barriga (knee on belly), and costas (the back). The actions are queda (takedown), passagem de guarda (guard pass), raspagem (sweep), and finalização (submission). Most of the names are plain description — but a few, like side control's "hundred kilos" and the rear naked choke's "lion killer," are pure Brazilian.
The Ground Positions
Guarda (GWAHR-dah) is guard, and it's the same word as the English one — a defensive posture, borrowed into martial arts from fencing and boxing long before jiu jitsu existed. It splits the way you'd expect: guarda fechada is closed guard, guarda aberta is open guard, and meia-guarda is half guard, with meia meaning "half."
Montada (mohn-TAH-dah) is mount, from montar, to mount or to ride — the same verb used for getting on a horse. The image is exactly what the position is.
Cem quilos (sayng KEE-loos) is side control, and it's the best name in the sport. It means "a hundred kilos." Not because anyone weighs that, but because that's the number your ribs report when a good side control lands on them. Brazilians named the position after the sensation of being underneath it rather than after its geometry, which tells you something about the culture that produced it.
Joelho na barriga (zhoh-EH-lyoo nah bah-HEE-gah) is knee on belly, and it's a literal translation — joelho is knee, barriga is belly. Brazilian position names are frequently just plain description, and this is the clearest example.
Costas (KOHS-tahs) is the back. Taking the back is pegar as costas, "to grab the back." Note that it's grammatically plural in Portuguese — as costas — the way "the shoulders" is in English.
Quatro apoios (KWAH-troo ah-POH-yoos) is all fours, literally "four supports" — the turtle-ish base you end up in after a failed shot.
| Portuguese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Guarda | GWAHR-dah | guard |
| Guarda fechada | GWAHR-dah fay-SHAH-dah | closed guard |
| Guarda aberta | GWAHR-dah ah-BAIR-tah | open guard |
| Meia-guarda | MAY-ah GWAHR-dah | half guard |
| Montada | mohn-TAH-dah | mount |
| Cem quilos | sayng KEE-loos | side control |
| Joelho na barriga | zhoh-EH-lyoo nah bah-HEE-gah | knee on belly |
| Costas | KOHS-tahs | the back |
| Quatro apoios | KWAH-troo ah-POH-yoos | all fours |
The Actions
Positions are nouns; getting between them has its own vocabulary, and this is the set you'll hear a coach use most.
Raspagem (hahs-PAH-zhayng) is a sweep, from raspar — to scrape or shave. The mental picture is scraping someone off you rather than lifting them, which is a fair description of how a good sweep actually works.
Passagem de guarda (pah-SAH-zhayng jee GWAHR-dah) is a guard pass, literally "passage of guard." Brazilians often shorten it to just passagem.
Queda (KEH-dah) is a takedown, from cair, to fall — so it's really "a fall." Judo throws in Brazil get the same word.
Finalização (fee-nah-lee-zah-SOWN) is a submission, from finalizar, to finish. It's a more accurate word than the English one: the Brazilian term describes what the top player did, while "submission" describes what the bottom player did.
Pegada (peh-GAH-dah) is a grip, from pegar, to grab. Base (BAH-zee) is base, and means exactly what it does in English.
| Portuguese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Queda | KEH-dah | takedown |
| Passagem de guarda | pah-SAH-zhayng jee GWAHR-dah | guard pass |
| Raspagem | hahs-PAH-zhayng | sweep |
| Finalização | fee-nah-lee-zah-SOWN | submission |
| Pegada | peh-GAH-dah | grip |
| Base | BAH-zee | base |
The Submissions
Submission names are where Portuguese, Japanese, and pure invention all collide.
Mata-leão (mah-tah-leh-OWN) is the rear naked choke, and it means "lion killer" — matar (to kill) plus leão (lion). It's the most dramatic name in the sport and nobody is quite sure who coined it, but the image of choking out a big cat from behind has kept it alive for generations.
Chave de braço (SHAH-vee jee BRAH-soo) is the armbar, literally "arm key." Chave means key, and Portuguese uses it the way English uses "lock" — so a leg lock is a chave de perna. Once you have chave, a whole family of submissions opens up.
Estrangulamento (es-trahn-goo-lah-MEHN-too) is the general word for a choke — a mouthful, but the one a coach uses when they mean chokes as a category.
Triângulo (tree-AHN-goo-loo) is the triangle, named for the shape your legs make, same as in English.
And then there are the two that aren't Portuguese descriptions at all. Kimura is named after Masahiko Kimura, the Japanese judoka who famously used it to break Hélio Gracie's arm in 1951 — the Brazilians named the lock after the man who beat them with it. Americana is the mirror-image shoulder lock, and the name simply means "American." Both are cases of a technique carrying the name of where it came from.
| Portuguese | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
| Mata-leão | mah-tah-leh-OWN | rear naked choke |
| Chave de braço | SHAH-vee jee BRAH-soo | armbar |
| Triângulo | tree-AHN-goo-loo | triangle |
| Estrangulamento | es-trahn-goo-lah-MEHN-too | choke |
| Kimura | kee-MOO-rah | kimura |
| Americana | ah-meh-ree-KAH-nah | americana |
Every word above — and hundreds more — is taught with native-speaker audio and mat-ready phrases in the Fala BJJ app.
The Names That Stayed Portuguese
A handful of techniques never got an English name, usually because they were invented recently enough that the Brazilian term travelled with the video. The berimbolo is the obvious one — named after a Brazilian dance-like movement and popularized by the Mendes brothers, it entered the global vocabulary in Portuguese and stayed there.
That's the general rule: the older the technique, the more likely English replaced the name. The newer it is, the more likely you're saying Portuguese without realizing it.
How to Pronounce Them
Three patterns cover almost all of these:
The R at the start of a word is an English H. Raspagem is hahs-PAH-zhayng, not "rasp-a-jem."
The -gem ending sounds like "zhayng." Both raspagem and passagem use it — a soft "zh" like the middle of "measure," then a nasal ending.
The -ão ending sounds like "own." Mata-leão is mah-tah-leh-OWN, finalização is fee-nah-lee-zah-SOWN. It's a nasal sound English doesn't quite have; aim for "own" with the air going through your nose.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is guard called in Portuguese? Guarda (GWAHR-dah). Closed guard is guarda fechada, open guard is guarda aberta, and half guard is meia-guarda.
Why is side control called cem quilos? Because it means "a hundred kilos" — named for how heavy it feels to be underneath it rather than for the shape of the position.
What does mata-leão mean? "Lion killer," from matar (to kill) and leão (lion). It's the Portuguese name for the rear naked choke.
What does chave de braço mean? "Arm key" — the armbar. Portuguese uses chave (key) where English uses "lock," so a leg lock is a chave de perna.
What is a sweep in Portuguese? Raspagem (hahs-PAH-zhayng), from raspar, to scrape.
Is it kimono or gi in Brazil? Kimono. Brazilians almost always say kimono; "gi" is the Japanese term that took hold in English-speaking academies.
Why are kimura and americana not Portuguese words? They're named after origins rather than described. Kimura honors Masahiko Kimura, the judoka who used it against Hélio Gracie in 1951, and americana simply means "American."
The Bottom Line
The position names are the part of Portuguese you've already been speaking for years without noticing. Learning the rest of them costs almost nothing — you know the positions, so you're attaching sounds to things you can already picture — and it pays off the first time a Brazilian coach describes a sequence and you follow it without waiting for the translation.
Fala BJJ teaches exactly this vocabulary, with native-speaker audio on every word and short daily lessons built around the mats rather than around a phrasebook. Start with the positions you already train, and the rest of the language has somewhere to attach itself.
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