Portuguese words from Latin
2023 Portuguese words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
abade
It is inherited from Ecclesiastical Latin abbās (“abbot”), in the accusative, written Old Galician-Portuguese abade in the oldest texts. Machado thinks the word entered the language of the Church in…
abater
It is inherited from Late Latin abbattō (“to knock down”), a Late Latin verb that Machado and Cunha date to the 6th century; it is recorded in the Salic law. The Late Latin verb is formed from Latin…
abelha
It is inherited from Latin apicula (“little bee”), a diminutive of apis (“bee”), written Old Galician-Portuguese abella and Old Galician-Portuguese avella in the 13th century. Plautus and Pliny…
abertura
It is inherited from Latin apertūra (“act of opening; opening, hole”), a Latin word found in Vitruvius and in Justinian's Digest, which Houaiss and Machado class as Late Latin. Wiktionary notes that…
abril
It is inherited from Latin Aprīlis (“April”), written Old Galician-Portuguese abril in the oldest texts. Machado notes that the Latin word was in origin an adjective, qualifying the word for…
abrir
It is inherited from Latin aperiō (“to open”), Old Galician-Portuguese abrir in the oldest texts. Vieira explains the form by the regular change of Latin /p/ to /b/ between vowels, as in cabelo from…
absolver
It is borrowed from Latin absolvō (“to set free; to acquit”), a verb much used in Church and legal language. The old form was Old Galician-Portuguese assolver. Nascentes says the word came by the…
abster
It is borrowed from Latin abstineō (“to keep away, hold back”), a learned word, conjugated like ter. The Latin verb is formed from abs (“away from”) and teneō (“to hold”). Machado, Nascentes and…
absurdo
It is borrowed from Latin absurdus (“out of tune; senseless”), a learned word. Houaiss dates it to 1589. Cunha and Machado put the first record in the 16th century. The same Latin word is Galician…
abutre
It is inherited from Latin vultur (“vulture”), through the Vulgar Latin accusative vulture, written Old Galician-Portuguese avuitor and Old Galician-Portuguese voutre in the oldest texts. Houaiss…
acabar
It is formed from Portuguese a- + cabo + -ar, from the noun in the sense “end”, as Houaiss, Nascentes and the DLP explain it. For Machado it is instead inherited from Vulgar Latin *accapō (“to come…
aceitar
It is inherited from Latin acceptō (“to receive regularly; to accept”), the frequentative of accipiō (“to take, receive”). The oldest texts write Old Galician-Portuguese aceptar, with the past…
acender
It is inherited from Latin accendō (“to set on fire, kindle”), written Old Galician-Portuguese acender in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from ad- and the stem of candeō (“to shine…
acesso
It is borrowed from Latin accessus (“approach, arrival, entry; onset of an illness”), a learned word. Houaiss dates it to 1589 in the sense “possibility of reaching”, and Cunha to the 16th century…
achar
It is inherited from Latin afflō (“to blow on, breathe on”), written Old Galician-Portuguese achar in the oldest texts. Aurélio and Nascentes start from a Vulgar Latin form *aflare, with a single…
achegar
It is inherited from Latin applicō (“to attach, bring close; to put in, land”), written Old Galician-Portuguese achegar in the oldest texts and also Old Galician-Portuguese acheguar in the 14th…
acidente
It is borrowed from Latin accidēns (“chance event; non-essential quality”), a learned word. The Latin noun is the present participle of accidō (“to fall upon; to happen”), which is formed of ad-…
acolá
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum illāc (“lo, there”), written Old Galician-Portuguese acola in the 13th century. The Latin phrase joins eccum (“here he is!”) and illāc (“that way, there”)…
acolher
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *accolligō, written Old Galician-Portuguese acoller in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin verb is formed from ad- and colligō (“to gather, collect”), the source of…
açor
It is inherited from Latin acceptor (“hawk”), written Old Galician-Portuguese açor and Old Galician-Portuguese azor in the oldest texts. Houaiss explains the Latin form as an alteration of classical…
acordar
1. The word for “to wake up” is, in Houaiss's view, a back-formation from Portuguese acordado (“sensible, in one's right mind”), the old adjective being taken for a past participle; that adjective…
acostumar
It is formed from Portuguese a- + costume + -ar. costume “custom” is from Vulgar Latin *co(n)suetumen, a pan-Romance alteration of Latin cōnsuētūdō (“custom, habit”). It is parallel to Spanish…
acusar
It is inherited from Latin accūsō (“to blame, accuse, charge”), written Old Galician-Portuguese acusar in the oldest texts. Nascentes takes it to be a learned word. For the Spanish verb, Corominas…
adega
It is inherited from Latin apothēca (“storehouse, store for wine”), which is from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “storehouse”). The Greek noun is from ἀποτίθημι (apotíthēmi, “to put away”), from…
adivinhar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *addīvīnō, formed from dīvīnō (“to foretell, divine”) with the prefix ad-, according to Machado, Cunha and the DLP; it was written Old Galician-Portuguese adevinnar…
adivinho
It is inherited from Latin dīvīnus (“of the gods; prophetic”) according to Houaiss, written Old Galician-Portuguese adeuinho and Old Galician-Portuguese deuynho in the oldest texts. Nascentes…
admiração
It is borrowed from Latin admīrātiō (“wonder, astonishment”), first recorded in the 15th century. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. Within Portuguese it can be analysed as admirar with the suffix…
admirar
It is borrowed from Latin admīror (“to wonder at, admire”), a learned word. Machado and Nascentes start from an active form of the verb that replaced the deponent in later Latin. The same Latin verb…
adoração
It is borrowed from Latin adōrātiō (“worship, adoration”), a learned word. Wiktionary notes that it can also be read as from Portuguese adorar + -ção, and that it displaced the popular Old…
adorar
It is borrowed from Latin adōrō (“to plead with, address; to pray to, worship”), a learned word taken through the language of the Church. The Latin verb is formed from ad- and ōrō (“to plead…
adorável
It is borrowed from Latin adōrābilis (“worthy of worship”), a learned word. By surface analysis it is adorar with the suffix -ável. Cunha dates it to the 16th century, Houaiss to 1619. The Latin…
adornar
It is borrowed from Latin adornō (“to prepare, equip; to adorn”), a learned word. The Latin verb is formed from ad- and ornō (“to furnish, equip”), and its first sense was “to get ready, prepare”…
advento
It is borrowed from Latin adventus (“arrival, coming”), a learned word, whose older form was Old Galician-Portuguese avento. Machado calls the old form a divergent form of the same word. The Latin…
advogado
It is inherited from Latin advocātus (“legal counsel, one called to assist”), written Old Galician-Portuguese avogado in the oldest texts and refashioned on the Latin spelling. Houaiss calls the…
advogar
It is borrowed from Latin advocō (“to call to oneself; to call in as a helper”), a semi-learned word. Nascentes takes it through the old Old Galician-Portuguese avogar, remade on the Latin. Houaiss…
aéreo
It is borrowed from Latin āerius (“of the air”), from Ancient Greek ἀέριος (aérios, “of the air, high in the air”). The Latin adjective also had a rarer form āereus, which Silva Bastos, Michaelis…
afirmar
It is borrowed from Latin affirmō (“to strengthen; to assert”), a learned word. Nascentes calls it semi-learned, and the glossary of the Crónica Geral a learned derivative. The Latin verb is formed…
aflição
It is borrowed from Latin afflictiō (“striking; distress, torment”). Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word, and explains the old popular forms with ⟨fr⟩ as remade. The same Latin noun gives Spanish…
afluente
It is borrowed from Latin affluens (“flowing; abounding, rich”), the present participle of affluō (“to flow towards or into”). The Latin verb is formed from ad- and fluō (“to flow”). Nascentes calls…
afogar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *affōcō, written Old Galician-Portuguese afogar in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin verb is classical offōcō (“to choke, throttle”) with the prefix changed, and…
agente
It is borrowed from Latin agēns (“doing, acting”), the present participle of agō (“to drive, do”). Nascentes calls it a learned word. Wiktionary adds that it can now be analysed as agir with the…
agitar
It is borrowed from Latin agitō (“to set in motion, drive; to stir, disturb”). Machado notes that the -t- kept between vowels shows a learned word, as in the other Portuguese words of this root and…
agora
It is inherited from Latin hāc hōrā (“at this hour”), written Old Galician-Portuguese agora in the oldest texts. The Latin phrase is the ablative of haec hōra. Cornu derived it instead from ad…
agosto
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin agustus, the popular pronunciation of Latin Augustus (“(the month) of Augustus”), with mēnsis (“month”) understood. It is written Old Galician-Portuguese agosto in…
agradar
It is formed from Portuguese a- + grado (“will, liking”) + -ar, from the old noun meaning “will, pleasure”. That noun, written Old Galician-Portuguese graado in the 13th century, is from Latin…
agro
1. The word for the field is inherited from Latin ager (“field, piece of land”), written Old Galician-Portuguese agro in the oldest texts. Wiktionary gives it as a learned borrowing from the Latin…
água
It is inherited from Latin aqua (“water”), written Old Galician-Portuguese agua in the oldest texts. The Latin /kʷ/ between vowels was voiced to /ɡʷ/, as Vieira put it in 1871: “the q goes down to…
aguçar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *acūtiō (“to sharpen”), a verb formed on Latin acūtus (“sharp, pointed”). Cunha and Machado set it beside Late Latin acūtō, of the same meaning, and the Porto…
agudo
It is inherited from Latin acūtus (“pointed, sharp”), written Old Galician-Portuguese agudo in the oldest texts. Vieira explains the two consonants: the Latin /k/ and /t/ between vowels became the…
águia
It is inherited from Latin aquila (“eagle”), written Old Galician-Portuguese aguia and Old Galician-Portuguese aguya in the oldest texts. Machado notes that the word was treated in a special way in…
agulha
It is inherited from Late Latin acūcula (“little needle”), a diminutive of Latin acus (“needle, pin”), and is written Old Galician-Portuguese agulla in the oldest texts. Houaiss and Machado star the…
ajudar
It is inherited from Latin adiūtō (“to help, assist”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ajudar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is the frequentative of adiuvō (“to come to the aid of, help”)…
ala
It is borrowed from Latin āla (“wing; armpit”). The inherited outcome of the Latin word lost the ⟨-l-⟩ between vowels and became Old Galician-Portuguese aa, plural ⟨aas⟩, as in the Cantigas de Santa…
albino
It is borrowed from Spanish albino, a derivative of albo (“white”), according to Houaiss, Corominas and Caldas Aulete; the Spanish word is from Latin albus (“white”). Corominas writes that the…
alcançar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *incalciō (“to tread on someone's heels, pursue closely”), a verb formed from Latin calx (“heel”). The usual account, given by Houaiss, Cunha and Nascentes, is that…
alçar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *altiō (“to raise”), written Old Galician-Portuguese alçar in the oldest texts. Houaiss, Machado and Nascentes describe it as a Vulgar Latin replacement for…
alegar
It is borrowed from Latin allēgō (“to send as an envoy; to adduce”), written Old Galician-Portuguese alegar and Old Galician-Portuguese allegar in the 13th century. Wiktionary calls it a learned…
alegre
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *alicer (“lively”) (genitive *alecris), a Vulgar Latin form of Latin alacer (“lively, eager, cheerful”), written Old Galician-Portuguese alegre in the oldest texts…
algo
It is inherited from Latin aliquod (“something”), the neuter of aliquis (“someone, something”), written Old Galician-Portuguese algo in the oldest texts. The Latin pronoun is formed from ali- and…
alguém
Its origin is disputed. According to Houaiss, Cunha and Machado it is inherited from Latin aliquem (“someone”), the accusative of the Latin pronoun, written Old Galician-Portuguese alguen in the…