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vitelo

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Etymology and origin of the Portuguese word vitelo

vitelo1 calf

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1791 spelt vitello
Borrowed from
Latin vitellus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *wet-
Etymology tree of vitelo1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vitulus
Latin vitellus
French veau
Romanian vițel
Italian vitello
Portuguese vitelo
From the same root · vitelo1
Latin vitula ← vitulus
French vélin ← vitellus

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /viˈte.lu/, /viˈtɛ.lu/[1]
  • Portugal: /viˈte.lu/, /viˈtɛ.lu/[1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /biˈte.lu/, /biˈtɛ.lu/[1]

Forms

vitelo m (plural vitelos, feminine vitela, feminine plural vitelas)[1] Until the spelling reforms it was written vitello.[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the calf is borrowed from Latin vitellus (“little calf”), a diminutive of vitulus (“calf”).[3][2][4][1] Houaiss dates it to 1791 and Cunha to the 18th century.[2][3] Houaiss has a single article for the calf and the yolk, since the Latin word had both senses;[2][3][4][5] Cunha, Aurélio and Nascentes give the yolk a separate article.[2][3][4][5]

The Latin word lived on in popular speech as Italian vitello, French veau, Catalan vedell and Romanian vițel.[6][1][7] In Portuguese Houaiss traces to it the dialectal bitelo “big”, a semi-learned form that keeps the -t- unvoiced.[8]

The Latin noun goes back to Proto-Italic *wetelos (“yearling, calf”) and Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”), the root of vetus (“old”).[9][1][7]

Semantic evolution

The feminine vitela, recorded since 1721, came to mean the meat of a young calf, veal, and Houaiss derives it from a Latin feminine diminutive rather than from vitelo.[10][3] In rural Portugal the word names the young of the cow, in one survey from about eight months to a year old.[11]

Timeline

  • 1791 – first record of vitelo, spelt vitello.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A male calf less than a year old; a young bullock (novilho), a bezerro.[2][4][12][13]

vitelo2 yolk

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1874 spelt vitello
Borrowed from
Latin vitellus
Ultimate origin
Latin vitellus
Etymology tree of vitelo2
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vitulus
Latin vitellus
French veau
Romanian vițel
Italian vitello
Portuguese vitelo
From the same root · vitelo2
Latin vitula ← vitulus
French vélin ← vitellus

Pronunciation

  • Brazil: /viˈte.lu/, /viˈtɛ.lu/[1]
  • Portugal: /viˈte.lu/, /viˈtɛ.lu/[1]
  • Northern, Portugal: /biˈte.lu/, /biˈtɛ.lu/[1]

Forms

vitelo m (plural vitelos)[1] Cunha's first record is spelt vitello.[3]

Etymology

The word for the yolk is borrowed from Latin vitellus (“egg yolk”), which Cunha dates to 1874.[3][4][1] Lewis & Short treat the yolk as a transferred sense of the Latin diminutive “little calf”, while the OLD gives the yolk a separate Latin noun that is “perhaps” the same word.[14][15] Nascentes too notes that the Latin word properly meant “calf”.[16] Varro and Apicius also have a neuter vitellum.[14]

Semantic evolution

The word entered Portuguese through biology: the adjective vitelino “of the yolk; yellow as a yolk” is recorded in 1789, earlier than the noun, and vitelífero in 1874.[17][18] Embryology distinguishes the formative and the nutritive parts of the egg, vitelo formativo and vitelo nutritivo.[13] In Brazilian slang the word is also a vulgar name for the penis.[1]

Timeline

  • 1789 – first record of the adjective vitelino, spelt vitellino, in Morais.[17]
  • 1874 – first record of the noun vitelo “yolk”, spelt vitello, and of vitelífero.[3][18]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (biology) The nutritive material stored in the egg or ovum of animals, on which the embryo feeds; the yolk, gema.[2][4][12][13]
  2. (botany) For some authors, the cotyledon of grasses.[13]
  3. (Brazil, vulgar slang) The penis.[1]

Word family

  • vitelino
  • vitelífero

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vitelo
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. vitelo
  4. ^ a b c d e f Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. vitelo
  5. ^ a b Nascentes, Antenor (1966), Dicionário etimológico resumido, Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Nacional do Livro, p. s.v. vitelo
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. vitellus
  7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. veau
  8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bitelo
  9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  10. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vitela
  11. ^ 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. vitelo
  12. ^ a b Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. vitelo
  13. ^ a b c d Porto Editora (2013), Grande Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, Porto: Porto Editora, p. 9548
  14. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. vitellus
  15. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. vitellus
  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. 527
  17. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vitelino
  18. ^ a b Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. vitelífero

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Vitelo.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/pt/vitelo. Accessed 16 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·