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pecado

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word pecado

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1270 a charter More words from the 13th century
Inherited from
Latin peccatum
Ultimate origin
Latin peccō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin peccō
French pécher
Italian peccare
Portuguese pecar
Spanish pecar
Latin peccātum
Catalan pecat
French péché
Italian peccato
Portuguese pecado
Romanian păcat
Spanish pecado
From the same root
Latin impeccābilis ← peccō

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /peˈka.du/[1]
  • Portugal: /pɨˈka.du/, [pɨˈka.ðu][1]
  • Portugal, Southern: /pɨˈka.du/[1]

Forms

pecado m (plural pecados)[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote pecado and peccado, and in the 14th century also peecado.[2][3] The etymological spelling peccado lasted into the 19th century: a pamphlet of 1838 has it, and Vieira's dictionary refers pecado to peccado.[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin peccātum (“fault, error; sin”), written Old Galician-Portuguese pecado in the oldest texts.[2][6][1] The Latin noun is derived from peccō (“to make a mistake, commit a fault”), which also gives the verb pecar.[2][7][6]

The same Latin word is Galician pecado, Spanish pecado, Catalan pecat, Occitan pecat, French péché, Italian peccato and Romanian păcat.[8][9][1]

The origin of the Latin verb is uncertain.[7] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Italic *petkāō and the root *ped- (“to walk, fall, stumble”) of the word for “foot”.[1] De Vaan finds the old explanation “having a fault in the foot” unconvincing, since the verb never refers to feet, and mentions Leumann's link with a root *pet- (“to fall”), better in sense but odd in form.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A charter of 1270 has por remijmento de meus pecados “for the redemption of my sins”.[3] In the Cantigas de Santa Maria God forgives through the Virgin o pecado d'Adan “Adam's sin”, and sinners caer pod'en pecado “may fall into sin”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Beside “sin”, the medieval word meant the Devil: in a cantiga of Afonso X pecado nunca me pod' enganar “the Devil can never deceive me”.[3][10] It also meant misfortune or punishment, and the phrases mal pecado and mao meu pecado meant “unfortunately”, an expression that Nunes found still alive in Galician malpocado.[3][11]

The original Caldas Aulete defines the word as a breach of a religious law and, by extension, of any rule, and still gives “devil, tempter”.[12] Modern Portuguese adds “cruelty” and “a pity”, as in é um pecado “it's a shame”.[2][13] The word passed into Nheengatu as pekadu and into Sranan Tongo as pikadu.[1]

Timeline

  • 1270 – meus pecados in a charter.[3]
  • 13th century – the spellings pecado and peccados; the Cantigas de Santa Maria have o pecado d'Adan.[2][3]
  • 14th century – the spelling peecados.[2]
  • c. 1400 – a fragment of the Flos Sanctorum (copied 1380–1425) writes pecado.[14]
  • 1569 – Cardoso glosses pecado with Latin peccatum and lapsus.[15]
  • 1838 – a pamphlet spells the word peccado.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (religion) A sin: a breach of a religious law or precept.[2][13][16][1]
  2. By extension, a breach of any rule; a fault, error or vice: pecados de principiante.[2][13][17]
  3. A wicked act; cruelty (crueldade).[2][13]
  4. A pity, a shame: É um pecado deitar fora tanto pão.[2][13]
  5. The state of one who has sinned: viver em pecado.[2]
  6. (informal) The devil.[18][19]

Word family

  • pecadilho

Usage notes

The Church's categories are fixed phrases: pecado mortal “mortal sin”, pecado venial “venial sin”, pecado original “original sin” and pecado capital, each of the seven deadly sins.[2][17] In Brazil viver em pecado is an informal way of saying that a couple live together unmarried, and dos pecados or dos meus pecados means “dreadful, extraordinary”.[2]

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 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. pecado
  3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. pecado
  4. ^ a b NEHiLP – Núcleo de Apoio à Pesquisa em Etimologia e História da Língua Portuguesa, Universidade de São Paulo, DELPo: Dicionário Etimológico da Língua Portuguesa (online database), p. s.v. pecado
  5. ^ 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, 716
  6. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. pecado
  7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
  10. ^ Lopes, Graça Videira; Ferreira, Manuel Pedro et al. (2011–), Cantigas Medievais Galego-Portuguesas [online database], Lisboa: Instituto de Estudos Medievais, FCSH/NOVA, https://cantigas.fcsh.unl.pt, p. s.v. pecado
  11. ^ Universo Cantigas: Glosario da poesía medieval profana galego-portuguesa, A Coruña: Instituto da Lingua e Literatura (ILLA), Universidade da Coruña, https://www.universocantigas.gal, p. s.v. pecado
  12. ^ 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. pecado
  13. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. pecado
  14. ^ Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. pecado
  15. ^ Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. pecado
  16. ^ 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. pecado
  17. ^ a b Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 6992
  18. ^ Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. pecado
  19. ^ 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. pecado

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Pecado.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/pecado. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·