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piloto

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word piloto

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1438 More words from the 15th century
Borrowed from
Italian piloto
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek πηδόν

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /piˈlo.tu/[1]
  • Portugal: /piˈlo.tu/[1]

Forms

piloto m or f by sense (plural pilotos, feminine piloto or pilota, feminine plural pilotos or pilotas)[1] The 15th-century texts also write pilloto.[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian piloto, the older Italian form beside pilota.[2][4][5] In Italian the first form is recorded before 1375 (Boccaccio) and the second from 1532 (Ariosto), and earlier still are pedota and pedotta.[6] The Medieval Latin form pedota is recorded in Crete in 1271.[6] The Italian word is from a Byzantine Greek word for “helmsman”, derived from Ancient Greek πηδόν (pēdón, “blade of an oar”).[4][7][8] Nocentini explains the /i/ by the Byzantine pronunciation of the Greek long /ē/ and the /l/ as a change from /d/, and Wiktionary suggests instead the influence of pileggiare (“to sail”).[7][8] The Greek noun is from a form meaning “sole” or “footstep”, from Proto-Indo-European *ped- (“foot”).[9]

Vieira derived the Portuguese word from French, and Cortesão from Italian or Spanish.[10][11] Spanish piloto and French pilote are themselves taken from the Italian word.[3][7][12]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the first record to 1438.[2] Corominas cites pilloto in a letter of King Afonso V written between 1454 and 1497.[3] The early records mean a ship's pilot, the man who steers the vessel on its course.[3][13]

Semantic evolution

Cardoso (1569) and Pereira (1697) render the word with the Latin terms for a ship's master and helmsman.[13][14] Morais (1813) defines the pilot as the naval officer who keeps the ship on its course by the helm and the sails.[15] The older Caldas Aulete already has the pilot of an aeroplane and the small burner of a gas heater.[16]

Brazil gave the word the senses “racing driver”, “jockey” and “pilot fish” (peixe-piloto), and in Rio Grande do Sul “land surveyor”.[2][17] The fish is named from the popular belief that it guides sharks, and Nascentes explains the sense “one-eyed person” by the pilot who looks with one eye when taking his sights.[18] Television added the pilot episode of a series, and the word is used after a noun for anything experimental that serves as a model (projeto piloto).[2][19][16] Piloto automático dates from the 20th century.[2]

Timeline

  • 1438 – Houaiss's first date.[2]
  • 1454–1497 – pilloto in a letter of King Afonso V.[3]
  • 1569 – Cardoso's dictionary lists piloto.[13]
  • 1697 – Pereira gives Latin gubernator, nauclerus and navarchus.[14]
  • 1813 – Morais defines the pilot as the officer who steers by the helm.[15]
  • 20th century – piloto automático.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (nautical) The officer who navigates a merchant ship under the captain.[2][20][1]
  2. (nautical) A harbour pilot, who guides ships in and out of port.[2][19]
  3. Anyone who steers a boat.[2][20]
  4. A pilot who flies an aircraft.[2][1]
  5. (Brazil) A racing driver.[2][21][1]
  6. (Brazil, horse racing) A jockey.[2]
  7. (figurative) A guide or leader.[2][20]
  8. (television) A pilot episode, made to test the public's reaction to a series.[2][16][1]
  9. (television) The red light on a camera that shows it is transmitting.[2][20]
  10. (Brazil) The pilot light of a gas heater, from which the flame spreads to the other burners.[2][1]
  11. (Brazil) The pilot fish (Naucrates ductor).[2][22][1]
  12. (Rio Grande do Sul) A land surveyor.[2][17]
  13. A trial field for new methods or processes.[2]

Adjective

  1. Experimental; serving as a model that may later be improved: uma escola piloto.[19][5]
  2. One-eyed; also as a noun, a one-eyed person.[2][23]

Word family

  • pilotar
  • pilotagem
  • peixe-piloto
  • piloto-mor

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 n o p q r s t u v Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. piloto
  3. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 4, 544
  4. ^ a b Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. piloto
  5. ^ a b 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
  6. ^ a b Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
  7. ^ a b c Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. pilota
  9. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ 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, 803
  11. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 398
  12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. pilote
  13. ^ a b c Cardoso, Jerónimo (1569–1570), Dictionarium ex lusitanico in latinum sermonem, Lisboa: João Álvares (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro)
  14. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro)
  15. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 451
  16. ^ a b c 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. piloto
  17. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz
  18. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. piloto
  19. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org
  20. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition
  21. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda (1975), Novo dicionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., Rio de Janeiro: Nova Fronteira, p. 1109
  22. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br)
  23. ^ 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

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Piloto.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/piloto. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·