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famoso

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word famoso

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1344 Crónica de 1344 More words from the 14th century
Borrowed from
Latin famosus
Ultimate origin
Latin fāma
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fāma
Spanish fama
Italian fama
Romanian faimă
Latin fāmōsus
French fameux
Romanian faimos
Italian famoso
Portuguese famoso
Spanish famoso
From the same root
Latin diffāmō ← fāma
Latin īnfāmis ← fāma

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /faˈmo.zu/[1]
  • Portugal: /fɐˈmo.zu/[1]

Forms

famoso (feminine famosa, masculine plural famosos, feminine plural famosas, comparable, comparative mais famoso, superlative o mais famoso or famosíssimo, metaphonic)[1] Older texts also write famozo.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin fāmōsus (“much talked of, famous”), formed from fāma (“report, fame”) with the suffix -ōsus.[3][4][5][1] Nascentes calls it a learned word.[6]

The same Latin word is Galician famoso, Spanish famoso, Catalan famós, Italian famoso and French fameux.[1][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss and Cunha date the first record to the 14th century.[3][4] Lorenzo's chronology in the DDGM quotes the Crónica de 1344, which speaks of os famosos feitos que fezerom os antigos “the famous deeds the ancients did” and of the grande e famoso Hercolles “great and famous Hercules”;[9] Machado had dated the word only to the 15th century.[10] The sense is “renowned”.[10]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) glosses the word with Latin celeber, inclytus and illustris.[9] The fame could be bad as well as good: Morais (1813) has ladrão famoso, a thief known for his crimes, and Vieira defines the word as having a great reputation, good or bad.[11][12] The old Aulete notes an ironic use for an excess, as in famoso libertino, and the sense “excellent, admirable”, which Figueiredo (1899) also lists.[13][14]

Modern Portuguese uses it as an interjection of approval, Famoso! “Splendid!”, and as a noun for a famous person, a celebrity.[15][16][1]

Timeline

  • 1344 – the Crónica de 1344 speaks of famosos feitos.[10]
  • c. 1430 – the Horto do Esposo (witness 1390–1437) uses the word.[17]
  • 1633 – a private letter writes famozos.[2]
  • 1712–1728 – Bluteau enters it, with Latin celeber.[9]
  • 1813 – Morais records ladrão famoso.[11]
  • 1899 – Figueiredo lists the sense “excellent”.[14]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. famous, widely known; celebrated (célebre): um pintor famoso.[3][18][1]
  2. Out of the ordinary; remarkable, excellent: fizemos um famoso almoço.[3][18][19]

Noun

  1. A famous person; a celebrity.[1][15]

Interjection

  1. (Portugal) Expresses approval or satisfaction: well done![15][16][19]

Word family

  • famosamente

Usage notes

The stressed vowel is closed /o/ in the masculine singular and open /ɔ/ in the feminine and the plurals.[13][16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. famoso
  3. ^ a b c d Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. famoso
  4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fama
  5. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. fāmōsus
  6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. famoso
  7. ^ 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. famoso
  8. ^ Estraviz, Isaac Alonso, Dicionário Estraviz, https://estraviz.org, p. s.v. famoso
  9. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. famoso
  10. ^ a b c 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. famoso
  11. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, s.v. famoso
  12. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 3, 588
  13. ^ a b 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. famoso
  14. ^ a b Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 598
  15. ^ 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. famoso
  16. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. famoso
  17. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. famoso
  18. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. famoso
  19. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 4168

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Famoso.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/famoso. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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