Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word madurar

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1569 Cardoso's dictionary More words from the 16th century
Inherited from
Latin maturo
Ultimate origin
Latin mātūrus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mātūrus
French mûr
Italian maturo
Portuguese maduro
Spanish maduro
English mature
Romanian matur
Latin mātūrō
Italian maturare
Portuguese madurar
Spanish madurar
From the same root
Latin immātūrus ← mātūrus
Latin mātūrē ← mātūrus
Latin mātūrēscō ← mātūrus
Latin mātūritās ← mātūrus
Latin praemātūrus ← mātūrus
Spanish inmaduro ← mātūrus
Latin mātūrātiō ← mātūrō

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ma.duˈɾa(ʁ)/, [ma.duˈɾa(h)][1]
  • São-Paulo: /ma.duˈɾa(ɾ)/[1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /ma.duˈɾa(ʁ)/, [ma.duˈɾa(χ)][1]
  • Caipira: /ma.duˈɾa(ɻ)/[1]

Forms

madurar (first-person singular present maduro, first-person singular preterite madurei, past participle madurado)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin mātūrō (“to ripen”), the popular form of the word whose learned doublet is maturar.[2][3][1][4][5] The Latin verb is formed from mātūrus (“ripe”), which gave maduro.[6][1][7]

The same Latin verb is Galician madurar, Spanish madurar, Catalan madurar, Occitan madurar and Italian maturare.[8][9] French mûrir continues Old French meürer with a change of conjugation.[8][9][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the verb to before 1569, from António Ferreira's poems, and Cunha to the 16th century.[2][3] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 glosses it as “to make ripe”, Latin maturo.[10]

Semantic evolution

Barbosa (1611) and Pereira (1697) give the same sense, with Latin maturo.[11][12] Bluteau (1716) records a surgeons' sense, to bring an abscess to a head with ripening remedies, and the popular “to suppurate” is still in Michaelis.[13][14] Feijó (1734) sets madurar beside madurecer, and Vieira (1874) refers it to amadurar.[15][16] Figuratively the verb means to grow wise and prudent with age.[5][17] Porto notes that it is less used than amadurecer.[18]

Timeline

  • before 1569 – António Ferreira uses the verb, according to Houaiss.[2]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists madurar.[10]
  • 1611 – Barbosa glosses it with Latin maturo.[11]
  • 1716 – Bluteau records the surgeons' sense.[13]
  • 1734 – Feijó lists madurar and madurecer.[15]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (transitive) To make ripe (maduro); to ripen.[2][17][14]
  2. (intransitive) To become ripe; amadurecer.[2][19][1]
  3. (figurative) To grow in judgement and prudence; to mature.[5][17][18]
  4. (popular) Of a boil or abscess: to come to a head, to suppurate (supurar).[14][13]

Word family

  • amadurar

Usage notes

Vieira quotes the proverb Agosto madura, Setembro vindima “August ripens, September harvests the grapes”.[16]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. madurar
  3. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. maturar
  4. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. madurar
  5. ^ 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. madurar
  6. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  7. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. maduro
  8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. maturare
  10. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. madurar
  11. ^ a b Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. madurar
  12. ^ 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. madurar
  13. ^ 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. madurar
  14. ^ a b c 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. madurar
  15. ^ a b Feijó, João de Morais Madureira (1734), Orthographia, ou Arte de escrever, e pronunciar com acerto a lingua portugueza, Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. madurar
  16. ^ 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. 4, 20
  17. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. madurar
  18. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 5835
  19. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. madurar

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Madurar.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/madurar. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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