Portuguese words from Latin
2023 Portuguese words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 12).
especial
It is borrowed from Latin speciālis (“particular, individual”), a learned word. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin adjective was formed from speciēs (“kind, sort”) with the suffix -ālis. In…
espécie
It is borrowed from Latin speciēs (“sight, appearance; kind”). Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The earliest forms, Old Galician-Portuguese especia and Old Galician-Portuguese specia, had the late…
especioso
It is borrowed from Latin speciōsus (“good-looking, beautiful”), formed from speciēs (“appearance”) with the suffix -ōsus. Nascentes takes it by a semi-learned route. Already in Latin the adjective…
espectro
It is borrowed from Latin spectrum (“appearance, image, apparition”), first recorded before 1566. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. Bluteau's dictionary (1712–1728) already derived it from the old…
especulador
It is borrowed from Latin speculātor (“observer; explorer; spy, lookout”). Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word. Wiktionary notes that it can also be read as from Portuguese especular + -dor, and…
espelho
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin speclum, the syncopated form of speculum (“mirror”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espello and Old Galician-Portuguese espelho in the oldest texts. The learned…
esperança
It is formed from Portuguese esperar + -ança, and is recorded from the 13th century as Old Galician-Portuguese esperança and Old Galician-Portuguese asperança. The verb is from Latin spērō (“to…
esperar
It is inherited from Latin spērō (“to hope”), written Old Galician-Portuguese esperar and Old Galician-Portuguese asperar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from spēs (“hope”). In…
espesso
It is inherited from Latin spissus (“dense, compact; slow”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espesso in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician espeso, Spanish espeso, Catalan espès…
espetáculo
It is borrowed from Latin spectāculum (“sight; show, public games”), a learned borrowing first recorded in 1548. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin noun is formed from spectō (“to watch…
espiga
It is inherited from Latin spīca (“ear of grain; spike”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espiga in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician espiga, Spanish espiga, Catalan espiga, Occitan…
espinha
It is inherited from Latin spīna (“thorn, backbone”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espinna in the 13th century and Old Galician-Portuguese espinha from the 14th. The Latin word meant “thornbush”…
espinho
According to Houaiss, Cunha and Wiktionary it is inherited from Latin spīnus (“thorn bush”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espino in the 14th century and Old Galician-Portuguese espinho from the…
espírito
It is borrowed from Latin spīritus (“breath, breath of life, spirit, soul”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espirito and Old Galician-Portuguese spirito in the 13th century. Wiktionary calls it a…
esplendor
It is inherited from Latin splendor (“brightness, brilliance”), written Old Galician-Portuguese esprandor, Old Galician-Portuguese splandor and Old Galician-Portuguese esplandor in the oldest texts…
esposar
It is inherited from Late Latin spōnsō (“to betroth, promise in marriage”). Nascentes considers the word semi-learned, and notes that it replaced Latin nūbō (“to marry”). The same Latin verb is…
esposo
It is inherited from Latin spōnsus (“betrothed man”), written Old Galician-Portuguese sposo and Old Galician-Portuguese esposo in the old texts. Nascentes calls it semi-learned and notes that it…
espremer
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *expremō, from Latin exprimō (“to press out, squeeze”). Houaiss, Cunha, Nascentes and the DLP derive it directly from the Latin verb. Silva Bastos and Figueiredo…
espuma
It is inherited from Latin spūma (“foam, froth”). Nascentes considers it semi-learned, and less popular than its doublet escuma, which Houaiss derives from a Germanic word, Proto-Germanic *skūmaz or…
esquecer
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *excadēscō, written Old Galician-Portuguese escaecer in the oldest texts. Houaiss and Cunha call the Vulgar Latin verb a frequentative, Nascentes an inchoative, of…
esse
It is inherited from Latin ipse (“himself; the same”), written Old Galician-Portuguese esse in the oldest texts. Houaiss explains the double ⟨ss⟩ by regressive assimilation of the /p/ to the…
estabelecer
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *stabiliscō, written Old Galician-Portuguese estabelecer and Old Galician-Portuguese stabelecer in the oldest texts: an inchoative of stabiliō (“to make firm…
estação
It is borrowed from Latin statiō (“a standing still; post, station”), a learned word according to Wiktionary. Houaiss and Cunha derive it from the Latin noun, and Houaiss lists its senses “state of…
estado
It is inherited from Latin status (“way of standing, position, condition”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estado in the oldest texts. Latin had already used the word for the political order, in…
estame
It is borrowed from Latin stāmen (“thread of the distaff; warp”), a learned form beside estambre, which came from Spanish. Houaiss calls it the learned divergent of that word, and dates that word in…
estancar
Houaiss considers the element ⟨estanc-⟩ of uncertain, probably pre-Roman origin, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *tankó (“to fix”); on that view the word is inherited from Vulgar Latin *extancō…
estanho
Houaiss has it inherited from Latin stagnum (“tin”), the old and classical Latin form, probably Gaulish, which existed beside stannum, the spelling much used in the Middle Ages. Corominas also says…
estar
It is inherited from Latin stō (“to stand”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estar in the oldest texts. Wiktionary explains the stems ⟨estev-⟩ and ⟨estiv-⟩ of the preterite by a Vulgar Latin perfect…
esteio
Its origin is obscure, as Houaiss, Cunha and Aurélio say. The oldest form is Old Galician-Portuguese esteo, recorded from the 13th century. The REW, after Barbier, takes it as inherited from Latin…
esteira
1. The word for the mat is probably borrowed from Spanish estera, from Latin storea (“a mat of rushes or rope”) (also written storia). The Meyer-Lübke dictionary also derives the Portuguese form…
estilo
It is borrowed from Latin stilus (“pointed stake; stylus; manner of writing”). Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word. The Latin word is often written with ⟨y⟩ through a mistaken link with Ancient…
estimar
It is borrowed from Latin aestimō (“to set a price on; to value; to judge”). Houaiss calls it a semi-learned word, while Wiktionary treats it as a learned borrowing that displaced the inherited…
estimulação
It is borrowed from Latin stimulātiō (“goading; incitement”). Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Aulete and Michaelis analyse it as from Portuguese estimular + -ção, and DELPo compares French…
estimular
It is borrowed from Latin stimulō (“to prick with a goad; to rouse, incite”). Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin verb is formed from stimulus (“goad; sting; spur, incentive”), which also…
estio
It is inherited from Latin aestīvus (“of summer”), used as a noun with tempus (“season”) understood, and written Old Galician-Portuguese estio in the oldest texts. Juan Ruiz has Old Spanish estivo…
estômago
It is inherited from Latin stomachus (“gullet; stomach; anger”), first recorded in the 14th century as Old Galician-Portuguese estamago. Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word and names bucho as the…
estopa
It is inherited from Latin stuppa (“coarse flax, tow”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estopa and Old Galician-Portuguese stopa in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician estopa, Spanish…
estorvar
It is inherited from Latin exturbō (“to drive out, expel”). Houaiss notes that the Latin verb also meant “to pull down, demolish” and, figuratively, “to disturb, confuse”. Wiktionary allows another…
estrada
It is inherited from Late Latin strāta (“paved road”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estrada or Old Galician-Portuguese strada in the oldest texts. This is short for Latin via strāta “paved road”…
estranhar
Houaiss has it inherited from Late Latin extrāneō (“to treat as a stranger”), and the glossary of the Cancioneiro da Ajuda gives the same Late Latin verb as its source. The Portuguese dictionaries…
estranho
It is inherited from Latin extrāneus (“external, from outside; foreign”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estranho in the oldest texts. The Latin adjective is formed from extrā (“outside”) with the…
estreito
It is inherited from Latin strictus (“drawn tight, close”), the past participle of stringō (“to draw tight, squeeze”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estreito in the oldest texts. The short Latin i…
estrela
It is inherited from Latin stēlla (“star”), written Old Galician-Portuguese estrela and Old Galician-Portuguese strela in the 13th-century texts. The same Latin word is Galician estrela, Spanish…
estudar
It is formed from Portuguese estudo + -ar, and is already Old Galician-Portuguese estudar in the oldest texts. The noun estudo is from Latin studium (“zeal; study”), which is formed from studeō (“to…
estudo
It is inherited from Latin studium (“zeal, eagerness; study”), written Old Galician-Portuguese studo and Old Galician-Portuguese estudo in the oldest texts. The Latin noun is formed from studeō (“to…
estupendo
It is borrowed from Latin stupendus (“to be wondered at”), the gerundive of stupeō (“to be stunned, to be amazed”). Houaiss and Cunha date it to 1572, and the old Caldas Aulete quotes it from…
eu
It is inherited from Late Latin eo (“I”), written Old Galician-Portuguese eu in the oldest texts, the popular form of egō (“I”). Meyer-Lübke considered the shortened form pre-Romance; it occurs in…
evento
It is borrowed from Latin ēventus (“occurrence, outcome, result”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed from ēveniō (“to happen, come out”). The same Latin word was borrowed as Spanish evento…
exato
It is borrowed from Latin exāctus (“driven out; finished, perfect; exact”), first recorded in 1650. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin adjective is the past participle of exigō (“to drive…
exemplo
It is borrowed from Latin exemplum (“sample, copy; model”). The oldest texts have Old Galician-Portuguese exempro, Old Galician-Portuguese eixemplo and Old Galician-Portuguese enxempro, with the…
exército
It is borrowed from Latin exercitus (“army”), a learned word rather than one handed down by speech. Houaiss traces the Latin noun to the stem of the supine of exerceō (“to work at, keep busy”). The…
exigir
It is borrowed from Latin exigō (“to drive out; to exact, demand payment”), a learned word. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. Its cognate Spanish exigir is a learned word of the same kind, first…
experiência
It is borrowed from Latin experientia (“trial, test; experience gained, practice”), first recorded in the 14th century. The Latin noun is formed from experiēns, the present participle of experior…
expor
It is inherited from Latin expōnō (“to put out, set out; to explain”), first recorded in the 14th century as Old Galician-Portuguese espoer. Nascentes derives the modern verb through that old form…
extraordinário
It is borrowed from Latin extrāōrdinārius (“out of the usual order; supplementary”), a learned word. The Latin adjective was formed on the phrase extrā ōrdinem (“outside the order”), that is, from…
face
In Houaiss's view it is inherited from Vulgar Latin *facia, a popular form of Latin faciēs (“form, appearance; face”), and the Portuguese form probably owes something to French. Wiktionary takes it…
fácil
It is borrowed from Latin facilis (“that can be done; easy; yielding, indulgent”), a learned word. Nascentes, Aurélio and Porto Editora derive it from the neuter or accusative form facile. The Latin…
fada
It is inherited from Latin fāta (“goddess of fate”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fada in the oldest texts. Cunha and Wiktionary explain the Latin word as the plural of fātum (“fate”), taken as a…
fado
It is inherited from Latin fātum (“prophecy; destiny”). The same Latin word is Spanish hado, Old Spanish fado as Berceo wrote it, Catalan fat and Logudorese fadu, and it was borrowed into Basque as…
faia
It is inherited from Latin fāgea (“of beech”), the feminine of the adjective fāgeus, which was made a noun from a phrase with māteria (“timber”), “beech wood”. In the oldest texts it is Old…