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comprador

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word comprador

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1211 a law, as quoted by Vieira More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Latin comparō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Portuguese comprar
Portuguese comprador

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /kõ.pɾaˈdoʁ/, [kõ.pɾaˈdoh][1]
  • São-Paulo: /kõ.pɾaˈdoɾ/[1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /kõ.pɾaˈdoʁ/, [kõ.pɾaˈdoχ][1]
  • Caipira: /kõ.pɾaˈdoɻ/[1]

Forms

comprador m (plural compradores, feminine compradora, feminine plural compradoras)[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Portuguese comprar + -dor, as Aurélio, the DLP and Porto Editora analyse it.[2][3][4] Houaiss divides it as comprado + -or, the participle with the agent suffix.[5] Wiktionary allows a second explanation, a direct inheritance from Late Latin comparātor, and Niermeyer records the Medieval Latin word with the sense “buyer”.[1][6]

comprar itself goes back to Vulgar Latin *comperō, the spoken form of Latin comparō (“to procure, acquire”).[7][1] In Spanish, comprador is likewise a derivative of comprar.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vieira quotes the word from a law of 1211: E sse o comprador quiser, faça delas pera sempre o que for ssa voontade “and if the buyer wishes, let him do with them for ever whatever he will”.[9] Houaiss dates the first record to the 13th century from Cunha's medieval index, and a cantiga has E nunca i comprador vi / que o quisesse nen en don “and I never saw a buyer there who would take it even as a gift”.[5][10] The sense is the same as today's: one who buys.[5]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss records the nasal spelling cõprador in the 15th century.[5] Folqman (1755) distinguishes the household buyer who purchases what is needed each day, Latin obsonator.[11] Morais (1813) defines the word as one who buys for himself or for another, with the feminine compradora, and the old Aulete has the agents of olive-oil and grain merchants who travel from town to town buying.[12][13] In economics mercado comprador is a market in which buyers outnumber sellers at the current prices.[2][13]

Wiktionary lists the English comprador and the Macanese compradô among the words taken from it.[1]

Timeline

  • 1211 – a law quoted by Vieira has o comprador.[9]
  • 15th century – the spelling cõprador.[5]
  • 1569 – Cardoso glosses it with Latin emptor.[14]
  • 1697 – Pereira gives Latin emptor and mercator.[15]
  • 1755 – Folqman records the household buyer, Latin obsonator.[11]
  • 1813 – Morais adds the feminine compradora.[12]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A buyer, purchaser: a person or institution that buys something: Ainda não apareceu comprador para o terreno.[5][2][1]
  2. One who buys on another's behalf, a purchasing agent.[3][13]
  3. A customer.[1]

Adjective

  1. That buys: os países compradores de café.[5][3]
  2. (economics) Of a market: in which demand exceeds supply at the current prices, in mercado comprador.[2][13]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. comprador
  3. ^ a b c 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. comprador
  4. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2273
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. comprador
  6. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill, p. s.v. comparator
  7. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. comprar
  8. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. comprar
  9. ^ a b 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, 357
  10. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. comprador
  11. ^ a b Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. comprador
  12. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 430
  13. ^ a b c d 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. comprador
  14. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. comprador
  15. ^ 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. comprador
Cite this entry

“Comprador.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/comprador. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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