Portuguese words from French
97 Portuguese words with French in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 2).
loja
It is borrowed from Old French loge, which was recorded from 1135 as “shelter of branches and leaves”, then as “gallery, stand” and “kennel”. Wiktionary instead treats it as inherited from Old…
lote
It is borrowed from French lot (“share, portion”), which is from Frankish *lot. The French word is recorded from about 1140, and the Frankish form is reconstructed from Gothic 𐌷𐌻𐌰𐌿𐍄𐍃 (hlauts, “lot…
luzerna
1. The word for a great light is inherited from Latin lucerna (“oil lamp”). Cunha dates it to the 14th century. The Latin noun is formed from lūceō (“to shine”), with the ending also seen in…
moda
It is borrowed from French mode (“fashion, custom”), a word of the 15th century in French. The French noun is from Latin modus (“measure; manner”), whose general sense “measure” led to “limit…
montar
Houaiss and Wiktionary take it as borrowed from Old French monter (“to go up”), which is from Vulgar Latin *montō (“to climb”), a verb formed on Latin mōns (“mountain”). Cunha, Aurélio and Michaelis…
morteiro
1. The word for the mortar vessel is inherited from Latin mortārium (“bowl or trough for pounding, mortar”), Houaiss says, with the influence of Italian mortaro. Cunha and Aurélio take it as an…
neto
1. The word for the grandson is a masculine made on the feminine, from Portuguese neta (“granddaughter”), written Old Galician-Portuguese neto in the oldest texts. The feminine continues Late Latin…
oeste
It is borrowed from French ouest, which was first written west (1138 in Houaiss, 1140 in the DHLF) and is from Old English west. Nascentes and Aurélio also derive it from Anglo-Saxon through French…
país
It is borrowed from French pays (“region, country”), which is recorded in French from the 10th century. The French word is from Late Latin pagensis (“villager”), an adjective of Latin pāgus…
paisagem
It is borrowed from French paysage (“landscape”). Houaiss dates the French word to 1549 as a term of painting, to 1556 in the sense “a group of countries” and to 1573 as “the stretch of land the eye…
parque
It is borrowed from French parc (“enclosed hunting ground”). The French word comes from Late Latin parricus (“enclosure”), recorded in the 8th-century Lex Ripuaria. Houaiss and the DHLF derive it…
passagem
It is borrowed from Old French passage, written Old Galician-Portuguese pasagem and Old Galician-Portuguese passage in the oldest texts. The French noun is formed from passer (“to pass”) with the…
pavilhão
It is borrowed from French pavillon (“military tent”), from Old French paveillon and ultimately from Latin pāpiliō (“butterfly; tent”). The French word is recorded as paveilun early in the 12th…
perfumar
Houaiss takes it as borrowed from French parfumer, first “to fumigate” (14th century) and since 1528 “to fill with a pleasant smell”, from Vulgar Latin *perfūmō formed from per (“through”) and fūmō…
pontuação
Houaiss, Cunha and Priberam see it as borrowed from French ponctuation, recorded in French from 1522, a derivative of ponctuer (“to punctuate”). The DLP, Aurélio, Michaelis and Wiktionary instead…
prato
It is borrowed from French plat (“dish, plate”), the French noun formed from the adjective of the same form, meaning “flat, level, smooth”, according to Houaiss, Cunha, Nascentes and Aurélio. The…
prelúdio
Houaiss, Cunha, Nascentes, Aurélio and Priberam take it from French: it is borrowed from French prélude. Wiktionary instead treats it as a learned borrowing from Latin under the influence of the…
princesa
It is borrowed from French princesse, formed in French from prince (“prince”), which comes from Latin princeps (“first; chief, prince”). Houaiss dates the French word to 1308 and the noun to the…
protocolo
It is borrowed from French protocole, according to Houaiss, Cunha and Nascentes, and the French word is from Medieval Latin protocollum. The DLP and Vieira derive it directly from the Medieval Latin…
reflexivo
Houaiss takes it as borrowed from French réflexif (“relating to reflection”), a French word of 1692, itself borrowed from New Latin reflexivus (“relating to the reflection of light”). The Latin…
risco
1. The word for risk is, according to Houaiss, borrowed from French risque (“danger”), taken from Italian risco, a variant of rischio, which is from Medieval Latin risicus, also riscus, often linked…
rolar
It is borrowed from French rouler (“to roll”). In Old French the verb was roeler or roueler, first recorded about 1160. The French verb is a derivative of ruele, which with its variant roele is an…
salada
It is borrowed from French salade, according to Houaiss, Cunha, Nascentes and the other dictionaries. The French word, recorded from 1414, was taken from the northern Italian salada and salata…
sanitário
It is borrowed from French sanitaire, adapted with the suffix -ário and first recorded in 1844. Houaiss analyses it as a Latin stem with the same suffix and compares the French word, which he dates…
sorvete
It is borrowed from French sorbet. Houaiss thinks the French word probably reached Portuguese with the help of Italian sorbetto, and Michaelis takes the Portuguese word from the Italian one, while…
substituição
It is borrowed from Latin substitūtiō (“substitution; appointment of an alternative heir”), first recorded in 1368 as Old Galician-Portuguese substituyçon. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. Cunha…
sul
It is borrowed from French sud, written Old Galician-Portuguese sur in the oldest texts. Cunha takes it rather from su, the older form of the French word. The French word was borrowed around 1138…
supremacia
It is borrowed from French suprématie, first recorded in Constâncio's dictionary of 1836. The French word, of 1651, is from English supremacy, first recorded in 1549, a derivative of supreme, which…
tocha
It is borrowed from Old French torche, which Houaiss dates to the 12th century and glosses “a twist of straw; twisted inflammable material, a large wax candle, a torch”. The French word is from…
treinar
It is borrowed from French traîner (“to pull, drag”). Cunha, Nascentes and Aurélio give the older form Old French traïner. The French verb comes from Vulgar Latin *tragīnō, a derivative of *tragō…
trotar
It is borrowed from French trotter (“to trot”), first recorded in the 15th century. Houaiss gives the French route as probable, and Nascentes and Wiktionary allow Italian trottare as a second…
trufa
It is borrowed from French truffe (“truffle”), which is from Old Occitan trufa. The Occitan word comes from Late Latin tufera of the glosses, from tufer, a dialectal variant of Latin tuber…
vanguarda
It is borrowed from French avant-garde (“vanguard”), taken through the old variant Old Galician-Portuguese avanguarda, which lost its first vowel. Houaiss notes that the French word, recorded from…
vantagem
It is borrowed from French avantage, first as Old Galician-Portuguese avantagem, which lost its first syllable when the a- was taken for the article or a prefix. Nascentes cites the loss of the…
virar
Houaiss, Cunha and the DLP take it as borrowed from French virer (“to turn”), recorded in French from the 12th century; if it is a loan, Houaiss thinks the French word spread by sea, as Camões's use…
visagem
It is borrowed from French visage (“face”), which Bluteau already pointed out. The French word is formed from Old French vis (“face”) with the suffix -age. Meyer-Lübke and Nascentes's fuller…
zero
It is borrowed from French zéro, which was borrowed from Italian zero, from Medieval Latin zephirum, from Arabic صِفْر (ṣifr, “empty; zero”). Silva Bastos and Michaelis derive it directly from the…