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monstro

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word monstro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1400s spelt monstruu More words from the 15th century
Borrowed from
Latin monstrum
Ultimate origin
Latin moneō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin moneō
Latin mōnstrum
French monstre
Italian mostro
Portuguese monstro
Romanian monstru
From the same root
Latin admoneō ← moneō
Latin commoneō ← moneō
Latin monitiō ← moneō
Latin monitor ← moneō
Latin monitum ← moneō
Latin monitus ← moneō
Latin monumentum ← moneō
Latin praemoneo ← moneō
Latin summoneō ← moneō
Spanish muestra ← moneō
Latin mōnstrō ← mōnstrum
Latin mōnstruōsus ← mōnstrum

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈmõs.tɾu/[1]
  • Rio-de-Janeiro: /ˈmõʃ.tɾu/[1]
  • Portugal: /ˈmõʃ.tɾu/[1]

Forms

monstro m (plural monstros)[1] Houaiss records the 15th-century spelling monstruu, and Cunha the spelling mõstro in 1525.[2][3] A popular form mostro is recorded in the dialects of Portugal and in a private letter of 1822.[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin mōnstrum (“portent, prodigy; monster”), a learned word.[2][3][6][1] In Latin it was a word of religion: a supernatural sign that announced the will of the gods, and hence a being or thing outside the order of nature.[2][7][8]

The Latin noun is formed on moneō (“to remind, warn”) with the instrument suffix -trum, from *monestrom.[1][9] De Vaan derives the verb from Proto-Indo-European *mon-eie- (“to make think of, remind”).[9]

The same Latin word gave Italian mostro and Old Spanish mostro, later remade as Spanish monstruo after monstruoso.[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the word to the 15th century, from Cunha's slips of medieval Portuguese, in the spelling monstruu.[2] Cardoso's dictionary of 1569 glosses it with the Latin prodigium “portent”, and Barbosa (1611) with monstrum, ostentum, portentum and prodigium, so the first dictionary sense is that of a marvel against nature.[12][13]

Semantic evolution

Bluteau (1712–1728) defines the monster as an animal born against the order of nature, such as an ox with two heads, and discusses Aristotle's view of it as an error of nature.[14] Morais (1789) adds the senses “a very ugly person or thing” and “something excessive or extraordinary”, as in monstro de talentos “a prodigy of talent”, and keeps “prodigy, portent”.[15] The sense “cruel, inhuman person” is in Silva Bastos (1912) and the dictionaries after him.[16][17]

Modern dictionaries also use the word as an adjective, “enormous, colossal”, placed after a noun.[18][19][20] Priberam marks the sense “very large in quantity” as a press usage.[20] In Brazilian slang a monstro is a very muscular person or someone who is outstanding at something.[1]

Timeline

  • 1400s – first record, spelt monstruu.[2][3]
  • 1525 – the spelling mõstro.[3]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's Portuguese–Latin dictionary glosses it prodigium.[12]
  • 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as a creature produced against the order of nature.[14]
  • 1789 – Morais adds the senses “very ugly person” and “something extraordinary”.[15]
  • 1822 – the popular form mostro in a private letter.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fantastic, frightening and usually huge creature of myth, legend or fiction.[2][17][1]
  2. Any being or thing contrary to nature;[2][17][21] (teratology) an organism with a badly malformed body or part.[2][17][21]
  3. An animal of enormous size or frightening look.[17][19]
  4. (figurative) A cruel, inhuman person.[2][21][1]
  5. (figurative) A very ugly or hideous person or thing.[2][20]
  6. Something remarkable for its size or degree; a person who causes amazement, a prodigy: um monstro do xadrez.[2][17][20]
  7. (informal) An idle person who does nothing.[2]

Adjective

  1. Enormous, colossal; out of the ordinary.[18][19][20]
  2. (Brazil, slang) Very muscular; outstanding at something.[1]

Word family

  • monstrengo

Usage notes

Monstro sagrado “sacred monster” is an artist of unquestioned greatness, and, ironically, a famous person treated as above criticism.[2]

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 e f g h i j k l m Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. monstro
  3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. monstro
  4. ^ 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. monstro
  5. ^ 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. monstro
  6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. monstro
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. monstrum
  8. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. monstrum
  9. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. moneō
  10. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. monstruo
  11. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. monstrum
  12. ^ a b Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. monstro
  13. ^ Barbosa, Agostinho (1611), Dictionarium lusitanicolatinum, Braga: Fructuoso Lourenço de Basto (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. monstro
  14. ^ 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. monstro
  15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 2, 94
  16. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. monstro
  17. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. monstro
  18. ^ 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. monstro
  19. ^ 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. monstro
  20. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. monstro
  21. ^ 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. monstro

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Monstro.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/monstro. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·