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profundo

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word profundo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1300s More words from the 14th century
Borrowed from
Latin profundus
Ultimate origin
Latin fundus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fundus
French fond
English fund
Romanian fond
Italian fondo
Portuguese fundo
Romanian fund
Spanish fondo
Latin profundus
French profond
Italian profondo
Portuguese profundo
Romanian profund
Spanish profundo
From the same root
Latin funditus ← fundus
Latin fundō ← fundus
Latin lātifundium ← fundus
French foncer ← fond
French plafond ← fond
Italian affondare ← fondo
Portuguese afundar ← fundo
Romanian înfunda ← fund
Latin profundum ← profundus
French profondément ← profond
French profondeur ← profond

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /pɾoˈfũ.du/[1]
  • Portugal: /pɾuˈfũ.du/[1]

Forms

profundo (feminine profunda, masculine plural profundos, feminine plural profundas)[1] Houaiss records profudo and profundos in the 14th century and perfundo, prefundo and proffundo in the 15th.[2] Wiktionary gives the Old Galician-Portuguese spellings profundo and profũdo.[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin profundus (“deep, bottomless”), first recorded in the 14th century.[2][3][4] Nascentes classes it as a learned word, while Wiktionary derives it through Old Galician-Portuguese profundo.[4][1] The inherited adjective for “deep” is fundo, recorded from the 13th century.[3]

The same Latin adjective is Spanish profundo, also a learned word, first recorded in 1335, beside the popular hondo from an older perfondo.[5][6] Popular outcomes are Catalan pregon and Old French parfont, whose ⟨par-⟩ was felt as an intensive prefix.[7][8] French replaced it with the relatinised French profond at the end of the 14th century.[7][8] The Italian form is profondo.[7]

The Latin adjective is formed with prō- on fundus (“bottom”).[9][1] De Vaan derives the noun from Proto-Italic *fundo- and Proto-Indo-European *bhudh-mn- “bottom”, the source also of πυθμήν (puthmḗn) and bottom.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the adjective to the 14th century, from Cunha's medieval slips, with the forms profudo and profundos.[2] The prose corpus has it in the Vida de São João Clímaco (witness 1430–1500).[11] The Latin adjective meant first “extending a long way down, deep”, especially of seas and marshes.[9]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates to 1572 the use of the adjective as a noun for a deep place and for hell.[2] Vieira quotes the Lusíadas for mar profundo “the deep sea”.[12] Bluteau (1712–1728) explains it as the geometers' third dimension: what is measured from above downwards is profundo.[13] Morais (1789) already lists the figurative senses: deep knowledge, profound silence, deep sleep, a low bow of reverence and close attention.[14]

Modern dictionaries add a deep colour, a low voice, intense and lasting feelings, a far-reaching reform, a penetrating thinker and what is hard to understand.[2][15] Anatomy uses it for organs far from the body's surface, psychology for what concerns the unconscious, and grammar for deep structure.[2][16]

Timeline

  • 14th century – first records, profudo and profundos.[2][3]
  • 15th century – the variants perfundo, prefundo and proffundo;[2][3] profundar and profundeza are first recorded.[2][3]
  • c. 1465 – profundo in the Vida de São João Clímaco.[11]
  • 1572 – first records of the noun senses “depth” and “hell”.[2]
  • 1712–1728 – Bluteau defines it as the third dimension of bodies.[13]
  • 1789 – Morais lists its figurative senses.[14]
  • 1873 – first record of aprofundar.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. deep: having its bottom far below the surface or the edge: uma cisterna profunda.[2][17][1]
  2. Extending far from the entrance to the opposite end: um corredor profundo.[2][17]
  3. Thick; reaching far down or in: raízes profundas.[2][18]
  4. Deeply marked: rugas profundas.[2][15]
  5. Dark, deep (of a colour); low, grave (of a sound or voice).[2][15]
  6. Heavy, sound (of sleep); intense and lasting (of a feeling): um amor profundo.[2][16]
  7. Very great or far-reaching: reformas profundas.[2]
  8. profound: going to the bottom of things; very knowledgeable or perceptive.[2][19][1]
  9. Hard to understand; abstruse.[2][15]
  10. (anatomy) Far from the surface of the body.[2]
  11. (psychology) Relating to the unconscious.[2][16]

Noun

  1. A deep place; profundeza.[2]
  2. (poetic) The sea, the ocean.[2][19]
  3. (poetic) hell.[2][19]

Word family

  • profundar
  • profundeza
  • profundidade
  • profundez
  • profundura
  • aprofundar
  • profundamente

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 l m n o p q r s t u v w x Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. profundo
  3. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. fundo
  4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. profundo
  5. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. hondo
  6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. profundus
  7. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. profundus
  8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. profond
  9. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. profundus
  10. ^ 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. fundus
  11. ^ a b Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, CTA – Corpus de Textos Antigos, https://teitok.clul.ul.pt/cta, p. s.v. profundo
  12. ^ 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, 962
  13. ^ 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. profundo
  14. ^ 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, 250
  15. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 7503
  16. ^ 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. profundo
  17. ^ a b Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. profundo
  18. ^ 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. profundo
  19. ^ a b c Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. profundo

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Profundo.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/profundo. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

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