Etymologically
Log in

teto

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word teto

teto1 ceiling, roof

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1200s spelt teito
Inherited from
Latin tectum
Ultimate origin
Latin tegō
Etymology tree of teto1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tegō
Latin tēctus
Latin tēctum
French toit
Italian tetto
Portuguese teto
Spanish techo
From the same root · teto1
Latin contegō ← tegō
Latin dētegō ← tegō
Latin integō ← tegō
Latin obtegō ← tegō
Latin prōtegō ← tegō
Latin retegō ← tegō
Latin tēctōrius ← tegō
Latin teges ← tegō
Latin tegimen ← tegō
Latin tēgula ← tegō
Latin tegumentum ← tegō
Spanish teja ← tegō
Latin intectus ← tēctus

Pronunciation

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

Forms

teto m (plural tetos)[1] Old Galician-Portuguese wrote teito (13th century) and teuto (14th century).[2][3][4] tecto is the spelling of the dictionaries from Pereira (1697) and Bluteau to Vieira.[5][6][7] Houaiss dates it to 1721, and Wiktionary lists it as an alternative form.[2][1]

Etymology

The word for the ceiling is inherited from Latin tēctum (“roof”), written Old Galician-Portuguese teito and Old Galician-Portuguese teuto in the old language.[2][3][4] Wiktionary treats the modern form as a semi-learned remodelling on the Latin word, which displaced the old form.[1] The anatomical sense comes through the Latin of science.[2]

The same Latin word is Galician teito, Spanish techo, Occitan tech, French toit and Italian tetto.[8][1] In Spanish it is recorded from 1205.[9]

The Latin noun is the neuter of tēctus (“covered”), the past participle of tegō (“to cover”).[10][11] The DHLF traces the verb to Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”), and Wiktionary compares τέγος (tégos, “roof”).[11][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cantigas de Santa Maria tell of a church that was covered by its roof (per cima da eigreja era o teito coberto), and a cantiga d'escarnho of Pero Gomez Barroso mocks a man who should look to as paredes e o teito “the walls and the roof”.[12] The first sense is thus the covering of a building.[3][12]

Semantic evolution

Cunha gives the old senses “covering, roof” and “shelter, house”.[3] Bluteau and Morais define tecto as the inner upper surface of a room, which covers the beams.[6][13] Vieira still treats it as the whole covering of a house.[7]

In the 20th century it took technical senses: in aviation the greatest height at which an aircraft can fly safely, in meteorology the height of the lowest cloud layer, in anatomy a structure that covers others like a roof.[2][14] The figurative sense “upper limit” (teto salarial “wage ceiling”) is opposed to piso “floor”, and informally teto means “head, good sense”.[2][15]

Timeline

  • 1209 – Nascentes quotes so teito “under a roof” from a text in the Leges.[16]
  • 13th century – teito in the Cantigas de Santa Maria and in a cantiga d'escarnho.[12][3]
  • 14th century – spelt teuto.[2]
  • 1697 – Pereira's Thesouro heads the word Tecto.[5]
  • 1721 – Houaiss's date for the spelling tecto.[2] Bluteau defines it as the inner upper part of a room.[6]
  • 1871–1874 – Vieira defines tecto as the covering of a house.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. ceiling: the inner upper surface of a room or building: Pintaram o teto da sala de azul.[2][14][1]
  2. The roof of a building or vehicle; telhado: uma cabana com teto de colmo.[2][17]
  3. A house, home: Voltou a viver sob o teto dos pais..[2][14]
  4. Shelter, protection.[2][15]
  5. The upper part of a natural cavity.[2]
  6. (aviation) The greatest height at which an aircraft can fly safely, and in meteorology the height of the base of the lowest clouds.[2][14]
  7. (anatomy) A structure that covers others like a roof, especially the tectum of the midbrain.[2]
  8. (figurative) An upper limit, maximum: teto salarial.[2][15][1]
  9. (informal) Head; good sense, wits.[2][15]

teto2 teat

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1900s
Ultimate origin
Portuguese teta

Pronunciation

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

Forms

teto m (plural tetos)[1]

Etymology

The word for the teat is from Portuguese teta, with the final -a changed to -o.[2][18][1] It is pronounced with a close /e/, unlike the word for the ceiling.[2][19][1] Houaiss takes the base noun as an onomatopoeic word found throughout the Romance languages.[20]

Semantic evolution

Houaiss dates the word to the 20th century and records it in southern Brazil and in the Minho and Beira regions of Portugal, for the nipple of an animal's teat.[2] The Caldas Aulete records it for the teat of the cow and other animals in southern Brazil and the Minho, and as a vulgar word for a woman's breast.[21] In Rio Grande do Sul it is a synonym of teta, mama, seio.[19]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (regional) The teat or nipple of an animal's udder (úbere).[2][18][1]
  2. (informal) A woman's breast, teta.[2][21]
  3. (regional) A segment of a fruit.[2][18]

Usage notes

Houaiss, Aurélio, Priberam and the DLP also record teto, with an open vowel, as another name of tétum, the national language of Timor-Leste.[2][14][15][18] Houaiss's first record is Figueiredo's dictionary of 1899, and Silva Bastos (1912) calls it one of the dialects of Timor.[2][22]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 y Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. teto
  3. ^ a b c d e Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. teto
  4. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. teto
  5. ^ 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. tecto
  6. ^ a b c Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. tecto
  7. ^ a b c Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 5, 686
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 8609
  9. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. techo
  10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. tectum
  11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. toit
  12. ^ a b c 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. teito
  13. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 2, 760
  14. ^ a b c d e Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. teto
  15. ^ a b c d e Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. teto
  16. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. 493
  17. ^ 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. teto
  18. ^ a b c d 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. teto
  19. ^ a b Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. s.v. teto
  20. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. teta
  21. ^ 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. teto
  22. ^ Silva Bastos, José Timóteo da (1912), Diccionario etymologico, prosodico e orthographico da lingua portugueza, Lisboa: Parceria António Maria Pereira, p. s.v. teto

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Teto.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/teto. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·