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junco

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word junco

junco1 rush, reed

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1254 a document, cortiças de junco
Inherited from
Latin iuncus
Ultimate origin
Latin iuncus
Etymology tree of junco1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin iūncus
French jonc
Italian giunco
Portuguese junco
Spanish junco
From the same root · junco1
Latin iuncata ← iūncus
Spanish junquillo ← junco

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈʒũ.ku/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈʒũ.ku/[1]

Forms

junco m (plural juncos)[1]

Etymology

The word for the plant is inherited from Latin iuncus (“rush”).[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing, and Meyer-Lübke held the Spanish word to be learned too; most Portuguese dictionaries derive it directly from Latin.[1][6]

The same Latin word is Galician xunco, Spanish junco, Catalan jonc, French jonc and Italian giunco.[7][6] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *joiniko- and compares Middle Irish aín (“rushes”) and perhaps Old Norse einir (“juniper”).[8] Wiktionary adds that, because these words are found only in the western Indo-European languages, Matasović suspects a loan from a non-Indo-European source.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document of 1254 mentions junça and cortiças de junco coming down the river.[9] The sense is the plant, used as material.[9]

Semantic evolution

From the plant the word passed to the things made of it: a cane or walking stick, and a switch.[10][5] It is also used for other slender plants of wet ground, such as sedges, and regionally for very different ones: in Angola for climbing palms used in basketry, in the Azores for pine needles.[2][11] In Brazil it can mean a saddle pad stuffed with rushes.[11]

Timeline

  • 1254 – cortiças de junco in a document.[9]
  • 13th century – Cunha's first record, with the derivative junça.[3]
  • 1712–1728 – Bluteau describes it as a water plant with pointed hollow stems.[12]
  • 1755 – Folqman glosses it with Latin juncus and scirpus.[13]
  • 1813 – Morais records the proverb não é bico de junco.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (botany) A rush, any plant of the genus Juncus, with straight, flexible stems, growing in wet places: As margens do lago estavam cheias de junco.[2][11][1]
  2. Any of various similar slender plants of wet ground, especially sedges of the genera Cyperus and Scirpus.[2][10]
  3. A cane or walking stick made of rush; a switch, chibata.[10][5]
  4. (Angola) Climbing palms of the genus Eremospatha, used in basketry.[2]
  5. (Azores) Pine needles; caruma.[2][11]

Word family

  • juncar

junco2 junk (ship)

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1345 spelt joncos
Borrowed from
Malay jong

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈʒũ.ku/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈʒũ.ku/[1]

Forms

junco m (plural juncos)[1]

Etymology

The word for the Chinese ship is borrowed from Malay jong, which Houaiss writes adjong.[2][3][15][10] Dalgado, quoted by Nascentes, rejects the Chinese origin that Littré adopted and thinks the immediate source almost certainly Malay-Javanese, as with many other words of Chinese origin;[16] Lokotsch also found the Chinese etymology phonetically difficult.[16] Aurélio's first edition still derived it from Chinese, and Wiktionary from Arabic جنك (junk).[17][1]

Portuguese passed the word on: Spanish junco (from 1521) is from Portuguese, and so are English junk, French jonque and Italian giunca.[18][19][1]

Semantic evolution

In the chronicles of the East the junco is the large ship of China and the Malay seas: Morais notes that Fernão Mendes Pinto mentions it at every step.[14] Aurélio describes the historical war junk with two or three masts and sails stretched by battens, and a merchant junk built in the same way.[10] Today the word names any Chinese sailing vessel with a high stern, and in Macau a traditional fishing boat, now often motorised, that is also the family's home.[20][5]

Timeline

  • 1345 – first record, spelt joncos.[2]
  • 1510 – the spelling junquo;[2] junco in 1513.[2]
  • 16th century – Cunha's date for the word.[3]
  • 1521 – first Spanish record, borrowed from Portuguese.[19]
  • 1813 – Morais lists the ship as a second sense of junco.[14]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (nautical) A junk, a Chinese sailing ship with a stern higher than the bow and sails of matting stiffened by bamboo battens; historically used in war and trade: Um junco de velas vermelhas entrou no porto.[2][5][1]
  2. (Macau) A traditional Chinese fishing boat, once under sail and now also motorised, which serves as a dwelling.[5]

Usage notes

The old proverb não é bico de junco “it is no rush tip” means that something is no trifle.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. junco
  3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. junco
  4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. junco
  5. ^ a b c d e f 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. junco
  6. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 4619
  8. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  9. ^ 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. junco
  10. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. junco
  11. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. junco
  12. ^ Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. junco
  13. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. junco
  14. ^ a b c d Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 194
  15. ^ 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. junco
  16. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke)
  17. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 830
  18. ^ Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 3, 538
  19. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. junco
  20. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. inhame

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Junco.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/junco. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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