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noivo

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word noivo

Confidence
Disputed
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s Cantigas de Santa Maria, spelt novio More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin *novius
Ultimate origin
Latin novus

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /ˈnoj.vu/, [ˈnoɪ̯.vu][1]
  • Portugal: /ˈnoj.vu/[1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /ˈnoj.bu/, [ˈnoj.βu][1]

Forms

noivo m (plural noivos, feminine noiva, feminine plural noivas)[1] Old spellings include novio (13th century), nouihos (14th century) and noyuo (15th century).[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *novius (“newly married”), from Latin novus (“new”), in the view of the REW, García de Diego, Wiktionary, the DLP and Aurélio.[4][5][1][6][7] The oldest texts write Old Galician-Portuguese novio.[8][3] Aurélio notes that Novius is attested as a personal name in southern Italy.[7]

Houaiss, Nascentes, Aulete and Porto Editora instead derive the masculine from the feminine noiva, with a change of the final vowel.[2][9][10][11] For the feminine, Houaiss and Cunha start from nūpta (“bride, married woman”), influenced by the feminine of the Latin adjective.[12][3]

The same word is Spanish novio, Catalan nuvi and Old Occitan novi.[4] Corominas notes that the Spanish word first meant only a man newly married or marrying, as the Catalan and Occitan words still do.[13]

The Latin adjective goes back to Proto-Italic *nowos and Proto-Indo-European *néwos (“new”).[1] De Vaan also reconstructs a Proto-Italic variant nowjo-.[14]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates novios to the 13th century.[2] The Cantigas de Santa Maria use the word for a bridegroom on his wedding night: in cantiga 42, after the wedding feast, deitou-ss' o novio primeiro “the bridegroom lay down first”.[8] Cantiga 105 has foron os novios ambos enserrados “the newly-weds were both shut in”.[8]

Semantic evolution

The medieval and early modern sense is “bridegroom, newly married man”: Pereira translates it by Latin nuptus and neogamus, and Folqman by novus maritus.[15][16] Bluteau defines it as one lately married and adds that, according to Covarrubias, the name lasts until the wedding bread is eaten.[17] Morais has both “about to marry” and “lately married”.[18]

Today the first sense is a man engaged to be married, and the plural noivos is the engaged couple, or the bride and groom at and after the wedding.[2][7] In parts of Portugal noivo is used for a boyfriend from the first days of courting.[19]

Timeline

  • 1188–1230 – the feminine, spelt nouia, in Houaiss's first record.[12]
  • 13th century – novio in the Cantigas de Santa Maria.[2][8]
  • 14th century – the spelling nouihos.[2]
  • 15th century – the spelling noyuo.[2]
  • 17th century – first record of noivado.[3]
  • 1697 – Pereira translates it by nuptus.[15]
  • 1712 – Bluteau: one lately married.[17]
  • 1789 – Morais: one about to marry or lately married.[18]
  • 1871 – Vieira quotes Gil Vicente and Barros.[20]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A fiancé, a man engaged to be married: O noivo dela vive em Coimbra.[2][7][1]
  2. A bridegroom, the man being married at a wedding.[2][1]
  3. A newly married man.[2][7]
  4. (plural, noivos) An engaged couple, or the bride and groom.[2][21]
  5. (regional, Portugal) A boyfriend.[19]

Word family

  • noivado
  • noivar

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. noivo
  3. ^ a b c d Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. noiva
  4. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 5971
  5. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. *novius
  6. ^ 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. noivo
  7. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. noivo
  8. ^ a b c d 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. novio
  9. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. noivo
  10. ^ 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. noivo
  11. ^ Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6539
  12. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. noiva
  13. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. nuevo
  14. ^ 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. novus
  15. ^ a b 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. noivo
  16. ^ Folqman, Carlos (1755), Diccionario portuguez, e latino, Lisboa: Régia Officina Silviana (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. noivo
  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. noivo
  18. ^ 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, 117
  19. ^ a b 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. noivo
  20. ^ 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, 450
  21. ^ 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. noivo

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Noivo.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/noivo. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·