chato

Forms

chato (feminine chata, masculine plural chatos, feminine plural chatas, comparable, comparative mais chato, superlative o mais chato or chatíssimo, diminutive chatinho, augmentative chatão)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flat, flattened”), a popular adaptation, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat”).^[2][3][1][4] Cunha dates it to the 16th century, and Houaiss to 1650.^[3][2]

The initial /pl/ became /ʃ/, written ⟨ch⟩, as in chorar and chuva.^[5] The DCECH explains the /tt/ as an expressive doubling, and shows the Vulgar Latin word's age by its nouns Spanish plato “dish” and plata “silver”.^[6] Portuguese prato is a doublet, which came through French.^[1][7]

The same word is Galician chato, Spanish chato, French plat, Catalan plat and Italian piatto.^[7][1] The DCECH finds the Spanish word recorded only from 1601 and considers that it may be from Portuguese, as its ch- would suggest, and the DLE gives it Galician-Portuguese influence.^[6][8]

The Greek adjective goes back to Proto-Indo-European *pléth₂us, from *pleth₂- (“flat”), and is related to Sanskrit पृथु (pṛthú, “broad”).^[1][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the sense “flat, level” to 1650.^[2] Pereira's dictionary (1697) renders Chato by Latin simus “snub-nosed”, and Bluteau (1712–1728) defines it as a surface not higher at one point than another, with nariz chato “flat nose”.^[10][11] The DCECH remarks that the Portuguese dictionaries cite the word from no early author, which it takes as a sign of the lexicographers' disdain for popular words.^[6]

Semantic evolution

From “flat” the word came to mean “shallow” (prato chato) and “low”, and was said of a nose or chest.^[2][12] Vieira records the figurative “low, trivial, vulgar”, as in estilo chato.^[5] Figueiredo (1899) adds “thin” and “narrow”, and Silva Bastos (1912) a kind of louse.^[13][14] According to Nascentes, as Houaiss reports, the pubic louse is so called because its itching makes it chato “irksome”.^[2]

The informal senses “boring” and “annoying” are the commonest today;^[2][3][1] Cunha dates the verb chatear “to bore, annoy” to the 20th century.^[2][3][1] The old Caldas Aulete has estar chato “to be broke”.^[12] In Brazil chato de galocha is an unbearable bore.^[2] In the wine trade of Portugal a wine without life is called chato.^[15]

Timeline

• 16th century – first record, according to Cunha.^[3]
• 1650 – Houaiss's date for the sense “flat, level”.^[2]
• 1697 – Pereira renders Chato by Latin simus.^[10]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau lists nariz chato.^[11]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as level, with no raised part.^[16]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the figurative “trivial, vulgar”.^[5]
• 1912 – Silva Bastos records the louse.^[14]
• 20th century – first record of chatear “to bore” and chateação.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. flat, level, without relief: um campo chato.^[2][1][4]
2. Smooth, without unevenness.^[2][17]
3. Shallow; of little height or thickness: um prato chato.^[2][17]
4. Flattened, not prominent (of a nose, a chest, a foot): pé chato.^[2][12]
5. (figurative) Without elevation or originality; dull, trivial.^[2][4]
6. (informal) boring, tedious.^[2][1][18]
7. (informal) annoying, troublesome;^[2][1][19] (Brazil) embarrassing.^[2][1][19]
8. (informal) Without money, broke.^[18][20]

Noun

1. (informal) A bore, a nuisance;^[2][1] (Brazil) chato de galocha, an unbearable bore.^[2][1][18]
2. The crab louse (Pthirus pubis).^[2][1][18]

Word family

• achatar
• achatado
• achatamento
• chatear
• chateação
• chatice

Related words

• prato
• Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús)
• Spanish chato
• French plat

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. chato
3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. chato
4. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. chato
5. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 199
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 345
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. plattus
8. ^ Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. chato
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. plat
10. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chato
11. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. chato
12. ^ a b c Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. chato
13. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. s.v. chato
14. ^ a b Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. chato
15. ^ Instituto da Lingua Galega, Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (TLPGP), Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/tesouro, p. s.v. chato
16. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 264
17. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. chato
18. ^ a b c d Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. chato
19. ^ a b Wikcionário (Portuguese Wiktionary), pt.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. chato
20. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. chato