Portuguese words from Arabic
27 Portuguese words with Arabic in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
açúcar
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic سكر (súkkar, “sugar”), with the Arabic article al- fused into the word as its initial a-, the /l/ assimilated to the /s/: Corriente writes the Andalusian form…
alaúde
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic العود (alʕúd), from Arabic عود (ʿūd, “wood; lute”) with the Arabic article. Houaiss and Machado give the Arabic word three senses: firewood in general, pieces…
alcatraz
It is probably borrowed from Arabic الغطاس (al-ḡaṭṭās, “the diver”), the name of a diving bird, as Houaiss, Cunha, Machado, Nascentes and Wiktionary hold. Corriente, Pereira and Vicente put an…
alcatruz
It is borrowed from Arabic القادوس (al-qādūs, “bucket of a water wheel”), with the Arabic article. Houaiss and Machado give the Arabic word the senses “bucket of a water wheel, bucket of a noria…
alcova
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic القبة (alqúbba), from Arabic قبة (qubba, “dome, vault”), with the agglutinated Arabic article ⟨al-⟩. Corriente, Pereira and Vicente record the word in…
algodão
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic قطن (quṭun, “cotton”), taken with the Arabic article ال (al-) fused to the noun, from Arabic قُطْن (quṭn). Machado explains the Arabic form with a second vowel…
aljuba
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic جبة (alǧúbba), from Arabic جبة (jubba, “robe, outer garment”), with the agglutinated Arabic article ⟨al-⟩. Corriente, Pereira and Vicente record it in…
almíscar
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic المسك (almísk), from Arabic مِسْك (misk, “musk”), with the Arabic article ال (al-) fused to the noun. Corriente explains the final /r/ as a parasitic consonant…
anil
1. The word for indigo is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic النيل (anníl), from Arabic نيل (nīl), with the Arabic article. The Arabic word came from Persian نیل (nil, “indigo”), through Middle…
armazém
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic المخزن (almaḫzán), from Arabic مخزن (maḫzan, “storehouse, depot”), with the Arabic article ال (al-) taken into the word. Houaiss glosses the Arabic word “shop…
arroz
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic روز (ráwz), which Corriente gives with the article, from Arabic رز (ruzz). The first syllable of the Portuguese word is the Arabic article, assimilated to the…
atum
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic اَلتُّنّ (attúnn, “the tuna”), the noun with the Arabic article fused to it. Corriente finds no Arabic form with emphatic /ṭ/, which Machado had proposed as an…
azar
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic الزهر (azzáhr, “die (for gaming)”), from the Arabic article ال (al-) and Arabic زهر (zahr, “flowers; dice”). Houaiss, Cunha and Machado explain the sense “die”…
bairro
Houaiss calls its origin disputed. Houaiss, Cunha, Corominas and the DLE take it from a colloquial Andalusian Arabic word for “outside, exterior”, which in the classical language is borrowed from…
baraço
It is borrowed from Arabic مَرَسَة (marasa, “rope”) according to Houaiss, Cunha, Machado, Aurélio and Corriente, and is written Old Galician-Portuguese baraça and baraço in the 13th century. Cunha…
califa
It is borrowed from Arabic خليفة (ḵalīfa, “successor, deputy”). Houaiss explains the Arabic word as “vicar, lieutenant of God on earth”, the title of the successors of Muhammad as heads of the…
ema
The origin is disputed. One explanation makes it borrowed from Arabic نعامة (naʿāma, “ostrich”): Vieira in 1871 already derived it from Arabic, the Academia's DLP and Porto Editora give the same…
guitarra
It is borrowed from Arabic قيثارة (qīṯāra), which comes from Ancient Greek κιθάρα (kithára, “lyre”). Corriente and his co-authors place a Syriac form between the Arabic and the Greek. Wiktionary…
laca
It is borrowed from Arabic لك (lakk), from Persian لاک (lāk), from Sanskrit लाक्षा (lākṣā). Corriente, Pereira and Vicente place Prakrit lakkha between the Persian and the Sanskrit forms, and…
laranja
It is borrowed from Arabic نارنج (nāranǧ, “bitter orange”), written Old Galician-Portuguese laranja in the oldest texts. The Arabic word is from Persian نارنگ (nārang), from Sanskrit नारङ्ग…
limão
It is borrowed from Arabic لَيْمُون (laymūn, “lemon”), which reached the Iberian Peninsula through Andalusian Arabic. The Arabic word comes from Persian لیمو (limu), and that from Sanskrit निम्बू…
louco
Its origin is obscure, as Houaiss, Cunha and the DLP say. Wiktionary takes it from the medieval Old Galician-Portuguese louco and, possibly, borrowed from Andalusian Arabic لَوَق (lawaq…
monção
It is borrowed from Arabic مَوْسِم (mawsim, “season, time of year fixed for something”), the word for the season of fairs, of the pilgrimage to Mecca, of the harvest and of sailing. Corriente traces…
nora
1. The word for the daughter-in-law is inherited from Vulgar Latin *nŏra, written Old Galician-Portuguese nora in the oldest texts, which replaced Latin nurus. Houaiss starts from a Vulgar Latin…
sultão
It is borrowed from Arabic سلطان (sulṭān, “rule, authority; ruler, prince”). Wiktionary instead takes it through French sultan and Turkish sultan, and traces the Arabic word to Aramaic שולטנא…
taça
It is borrowed from Arabic طَاس (ṭās, “bowl”), in the Andalusian form that Corriente writes ṭássa. Arabic took the word from Middle Persian tašt. Houaiss and Cunha derive the Portuguese word…
xarope
It is borrowed from Andalusian Arabic شراب (šaráb), the Andalusian Arabic form of Arabic شراب (šarāb, “drink, beverage”), a noun of شرب (šariba, “to drink”). Houaiss and the Aurélio give the Arabic…