Pío

[reverser]

I think I found this phrase "no saben ni pío sobre el museo" but can't find a definition for pío. What is it?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Pío" is the supposed sound a chicken makes.
"Ni pío", then is used figuratively as not even the basic sound of a chicken; "nothing".

[reverser]

Thanks. I thought it might be something vulgar.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Not at all. =)

[Glen]

That's a good one, reverser. I can sure use it myself since there's so much I know nothing about!
The word shows up in the children's song Los pollitos dicen pío, pío, pío cuando tienen hambre, cuando tienen frío, etc. Learning to sing that song beforehand turned out to be a real ice-breaker for me when I first went abroad.

[JPablo]

DRAE gives
http://lema.rae.es/drae/
pío
no decir ~, o ni ~. 1. locs. verbs. No chistar, no despegar los labios.


Oxford gives,


pío = peep, tweet; no decir ni pío (fam)

not to say a word; no dijo ni pío he didn’t say a word; no has dicho ni pío en toda la tarde = you haven’t said a word all afternoon, we haven’t heard a peep out of you all afternoon (colloq)