Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word cozinhar

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1340 the participle cozinhado More words from the 14th century
Inherited from
Latin cocino
Ultimate origin
Latin coquō

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ku.zĩˈɲa(ʁ)/, [ku.zĩˈj̃a(h)], /ko.zĩˈɲa(ʁ)/[1]
  • São-Paulo: /ku.zĩˈɲa(ɾ)/, [ku.zĩˈj̃a(ɾ)], /ko.zĩˈɲa(ɾ)/[1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /ku.zĩˈɲa(ʁ)/, [ku.zĩˈj̃a(χ)], /ko.zĩˈɲa(ʁ)/[1]
  • Caipira: /ku.zĩˈɲa(ɻ)/, [ku.zĩˈj̃a(ɻ)], /ko.zĩˈɲa(ɻ)/[1]

Forms

cozinhar (first-person singular present cozinho, first-person singular preterite cozinhei, past participle cozinhado)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin cocīnō (“to cook”), a later form of Latin coquīnō (“to cook”);[2][3][1][4][5][6] Wiktionary gives the medieval spelling as Old Galician-Portuguese cozinnar.[2][3][1][4][5][6] Silva Bastos, Vieira, Figueiredo and Michaelis instead derive it from the noun cozinha with the suffix -ar, and DELPo compares the Spanish cocinar.[7][8][9][10][11]

The Latin verb is used only by Plautus.[12][13] It is formed on coquīnus (“of cooks”), from the family of coquō (“to boil, bake”).[1][14]

The same Latin verb is Galician cociñar, Catalan cuinar, French cuisiner and Italian cucinare.[15][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss's first record is the participle cozinhado in 1340, from Cunha's index of medieval Portuguese.[2] The infinitive is in a document of 1364: acharom en cassa de Maria Vjeira en que cozinhauam estas coussas “they found, in the house of Maria Vieira, where they cooked these things”.[16][2]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau in 1712–1728 defines it as doing a cook's work and refers to guisar “to stew”.[17] Figueiredo in 1899 adds the figurative “to prepare, arrange”, and the old Aulete “to plot, contrive”.[9][18] Brazilian informal speech uses it for putting off a matter or keeping someone waiting, in cozinhar em banho-maria and cozinhar em água fria, and journalists for rewriting a text.[19][5] In football it means stalling the game.[2] In the Brazilian winemakers' speech recorded by the TLPGP, a must that fails to ferment “cooks”.[20]

Timeline

  • 1340 – first record of the participle cozinhado.[2]
  • 1364 – cozinhauam in a document.[16]
  • 1697 – Pereira glosses it with the Latin coquinor.[21]
  • 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as doing a cook's work.[17]
  • 1871–1874 – Vieira derives it from cozinha.[8]
  • 1899 – Figueiredo records the figurative sense “to arrange”.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cook: to prepare food with heat; to know how to cook, or to cook for a living: O pai cozinha muito bem.[2][22][1]
  2. To fire or bake (bricks, pottery); to subject to great heat.[2][22][1]
  3. (figurative) To hatch, plot (an intrigue); to manipulate.[2][6][5]
  4. (Brazil, informal) To put off (a matter); to keep (someone) waiting: cozinhar em banho-maria.[19][5]
  5. (football) To stall the game, waste time.[2]
  6. (Brazil, journalism) To rewrite (a text from other sources).[19]

Word family

  • cozinhado
  • pré-cozinhar

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. cozinhar
  3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. cozinha
  4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. cozinhar
  5. ^ a b c d e 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. cozinhar
  6. ^ a b c Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 2542
  7. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. cozinhar
  8. ^ 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, 618
  9. ^ a b c Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 358
  10. ^ 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. cozinhar
  11. ^ NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. cozinhar
  12. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. coquīnō
  13. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. coquino
  14. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  15. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 2214
  16. ^ a b Instituto da Lingua Galega, Dicionario de dicionarios do galego medieval (DDGM), ed. Ernesto González Seoane, Santiago de Compostela: Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, https://ilg.usc.gal/ddgm, p. s.v. cozinhar
  17. ^ 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. cozinhar
  18. ^ 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. cozinhar
  19. ^ a b c Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. cozinhar
  20. ^ 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. cozinhar
  21. ^ 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. cozinhar
  22. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. cozinhar

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Cozinhar.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/cozinhar. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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