Portuguese words from Latin
2023 Portuguese words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 14).
firmar
It is inherited from Latin firmō (“to make firm, strengthen; to confirm”), written Old Galician-Portuguese firmar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from firmus (“firm, stable”). It kept…
firme
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin firmis, the Vulgar Latin form of Latin firmus (“firm, solid, strong”), written Old Galician-Portuguese firme in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin adjective of the…
fivela
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fībella (“small pin, clasp”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fivela in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin word stands for Latin fībula (“clasp, buckle, pin”) with…
flamengo
1. The word for Flemish is borrowed from Medieval Latin flamengus, derived from Dutch flaming (“native of Flanders”). Wiktionary calls it a semi-learned borrowing of flamencus and traces it to Old…
flor
It is borrowed from Latin flōs (“flower”), taken by the learned route, as Houaiss, Aurélio and Wiktionary say, and recorded from the 13th century as Old Galician-Portuguese flor, Old…
foder
It is inherited from Latin futuō (“to have sex with (a woman)”), written Old Galician-Portuguese foder in the oldest texts. Houaiss and Aurélio start from a popular reshaping of the classical verb…
fogaça
1. The word for the cake is inherited from Late Latin focācium (“bread baked in the hearth”), taken over through its plural focācia, which was understood as a feminine singular. Houaiss explains it…
fogo
It is inherited from Latin focus (“hearth, fireplace”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fogo in the oldest texts. It is the popular outcome of the Latin word, and foco is its learned doublet. In…
fogueira
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *focāria, which Houaiss and Cunha take as Latin focāria (“kitchen maid”) with a changed sense; it was written Old Galician-Portuguese fogueira in the oldest texts…
folha
It is inherited from Late Latin folia, the plural of Latin folium (“leaf”) taken as a feminine singular, written Old Galician-Portuguese folla in the oldest texts. Houaiss notes that the sense…
fome
It is inherited from Latin famēs (“hunger”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fame in the oldest texts. Wiktionary suggests that it may come through a Vulgar Latin variant *famen rather than the…
fonte
1. The word for a spring is inherited from Latin fōns (“spring, well”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fonte in the oldest texts. The Latin noun was masculine, but changed gender in the 4th…
fora
It is inherited from Latin forās (“to the outside, out of doors”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fora and, with the Latin -s, Old Galician-Portuguese foras in the oldest texts. The form without…
forca
It is inherited from Latin furca (“fork, forked stake; gallows”), written Old Galician-Portuguese forca in the oldest texts. Houaiss calls it the popular outcome of the Latin noun, whose senses…
força
It is inherited from Late Latin fortia (“strength”), written Old Galician-Portuguese força in the oldest texts. The Late Latin noun is the neuter plural of Latin fortis (“strong, brave”) used as a…
forma
It is inherited from Latin fōrma (“shape, appearance; mould”), written Old Galician-Portuguese forma in the oldest texts. Houaiss explains that Portuguese split the Latin senses: the abstract ones…
formar
It is inherited from Latin fōrmō (“to shape, fashion”), written Old Galician-Portuguese formar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from fōrma (“form, shape”). The same verb is Italian…
formiga
It is inherited from Latin formīca (“ant”), written Old Galician-Portuguese formiga in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician formiga, Spanish hormiga, Catalan formiga, Occitan formiga…
formigueiro
It is formed from Portuguese formiga (“ant”) + -eiro. Wiktionary notes that it may correspond to a Vulgar Latin *formīcārium. The same derivative is found across Romance: Spanish hormiguero, Catalan…
formoso
It is inherited from Latin fōrmōsus (“shapely, beautiful”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fremoso and Old Galician-Portuguese fermoso in the oldest texts. Houaiss explains the form with /e/ by…
forno
It is inherited from Latin furnus (“oven”), written Old Galician-Portuguese forno in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician forno, Spanish horno, Catalan forn, French four and Italian…
forte
It is inherited from Latin fortis (“strong, brave”), written Old Galician-Portuguese forte in the oldest texts. The noun, a fortified place, is the adjective used as a noun. The same Latin word is…
fortuna
It is a learned word, borrowed from Latin fortūna (“chance, luck, fortune; possessions”), already written Old Galician-Portuguese fortuna in the oldest texts. Nascentes notes that it came by the…
fossa
It is inherited from Latin fossa (“ditch, trench”), a noun from the feminine past participle of fodiō (“to dig”), with terra (“earth”) understood. Houaiss's first date, 1124, comes from Machado. The…
foz
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin fōx (“narrow passage; river mouth”), the Vulgar Latin form of Latin faux (“throat, gullet; narrow pass”), written Old Galician-Portuguese foz in the oldest texts…
fraco
It is inherited from Latin flaccus (“flabby, drooping”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fraco and Old Galician-Portuguese flaco in the oldest texts. Wiktionary and García de Diego treat it as a…
frade
It is inherited from Latin frāter (“brother; member of a fraternity”), written Old Galician-Portuguese frade in the oldest texts. Nascentes explains the loss of the second /r/ by dissimilation, from…
frase
It is borrowed from Latin phrasis (“diction, style”), from Ancient Greek φράσις (phrásis, “way of speaking, expression”). Nascentes and Aurélio call it a learned word. The same Latin word is French…
freio
It is inherited from Latin frēnum (“bridle, bit”), written Old Galician-Portuguese frẽo in the oldest texts, with a nasal vowel that was soon lost. The Latin /n/ between vowels was lost, a change…
freixo
It is inherited from Latin fraxinus (“ash tree”), written Old Galician-Portuguese freyxo in the 13th century. Nascentes traces it through the older forms Old Galician-Portuguese freixeno and Old…
fresco
1. The word for “fresh, cool” is inherited from Vulgar Latin *friscum, written Old Galician-Portuguese fresco in the oldest texts and recorded from the 13th century. The Vulgar Latin word was…
fresta
It is inherited from Latin fenestra (“window”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fẽestra, also without the tilde, in the oldest texts. The Latin -n- between vowels was lost, and the /r/ then moved…
frigir
It is inherited from Latin frīgō (“to roast, fry”), first recorded as Old Galician-Portuguese friger. Houaiss dates the verb to the 14th century from Cunha's medieval index, while Cunha's own…
frio
It is inherited from Latin frīgidus (“cold”), written Old Galician-Portuguese frio in the oldest texts. Latin already had a shortened form without the second syllable: fridus is written on an…
froco
It is inherited from Latin floccus (“tuft of wool”), the popular form beside the learned floco. Nascentes, Aulete and Figueiredo treat it as a variant or corruption of the learned word. Houaiss and…
fronte
It is inherited from Latin frōns (“forehead, brow; front”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fronte in the oldest texts. Nascentes alone calls it a learned word. The same Latin word is Galician…
fruta
It is inherited from Late Latin fructa, written Old Galician-Portuguese fruita and Old Galician-Portuguese froyta in the oldest texts. The Late Latin word was the neuter plural, with a collective…
fruto
It is inherited from Latin frūctus (“enjoyment, produce, fruit”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fruito in the oldest texts. Nascentes mentions an older Old Galician-Portuguese froito as well. The…
fuga
It is borrowed from Latin fuga (“flight, running away”), first recorded in the 14th century. Cunha dates the word only to the 17th century. The Latin noun is related to the verb fugiō (“to flee”)…
fugir
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *fugīre (“to flee”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fugir and Old Galician-Portuguese fogir in the oldest texts. Cunha dates the Late Latin infinitive to the 3rd…
fuligem
It is inherited from Latin fūlīgō (“soot”). Nascentes and Aurélio start from a popular Latin form with a double consonant, Vulgar Latin *fullīgō, which also lies behind the Spanish hollín. Other…
fumar
It is inherited from Latin fūmō (“to give off smoke or steam”). Aurélio allows that it may have come through French fumer. The same Latin verb is Galician fumar, Spanish fumar beside the inherited…
fumo
It is inherited from Latin fūmus (“smoke, steam”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fumo in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Spanish humo, with the Spanish change of ⟨f-⟩ to ⟨h-⟩ (the old…
função
It is borrowed from Latin fūnctiō (“performance, execution”). Nascentes considers it semi-learned. The Latin noun is formed from fungor (“to perform, discharge”) with the suffix -tiō. In Late and…
funcho
It is inherited from Late Latin fēnuculum (“fennel”), a by-form of classical Latin feniculum, the diminutive of fēnum (“hay”). Houaiss and Cunha mark the Late Latin form as unattested. Wiktionary…
fundar
It is inherited from Latin fundō (“to lay the foundations of”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fundar in the oldest texts. Nascentes calls it a learned form. García de Diego lists the old Galician…
fundir
It is inherited from Latin fundō (“to pour, melt”). The oldest texts have Old Galician-Portuguese fonder beside Old Galician-Portuguese fundir. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The same Latin verb…
fundo
It is inherited from Latin fundus (“bottom; a piece of land”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fondo and fundo in the oldest texts. Houaiss, Cunha and the REW take both the noun and the adjective…
funeral
It is borrowed from Late Latin fūnerālis (“of a funeral”), a learned word of the 16th century. Houaiss and the DLP call the source Latin, Silva Bastos and Figueiredo Low Latin, Wiktionary Late…
furar
It is inherited from Latin forō (“to bore, pierce”), written Old Galician-Portuguese furar in the oldest texts. The ⟨u⟩ is unexplained. Machado, cited by Houaiss, supposes an older ⟨*forar⟩ whose…
furioso
It is borrowed from Latin furiōsus (“mad, raving, furious”). The Latin adjective is formed from furia (“rage, madness”) with the suffix -ōsus, and the noun in turn from furō (“to rage”). The same…
furto
It is inherited from Latin fūrtum (“theft”), written Old Galician-Portuguese furto in the oldest texts. The Latin word is formed from fūr (“thief”) as if it were a past participle. The same Latin…
fuso
It is inherited from Latin fūsus (“spindle”). The same Latin word is Galician fuso, Spanish huso, Catalan fus, Italian fuso and Romanian fus; French replaced its Old French fus with the diminutive…
fuste
It is inherited from Latin fūstis (“stick, cudgel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese fuste in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician fuste, Spanish fuste, Catalan fust, French fût…
futuro
It is borrowed from Latin futūrus (“about to be”), taken over in learned use. Houaiss derives the noun from the neuter futūrum (“what is to come”), the adjective used as a noun. The Latin word is…
gaio
1. The word for “cheerful” is probably borrowed from French gai (“merry”), which Houaiss takes as a loan from Old Occitan gai (“lively, merry”). Nascentes, Porto Editora and the DLP derive it…
galinha
It is inherited from Latin gallīna (“hen”), written Old Galician-Portuguese galinha in the oldest texts. The Latin noun was formed from gallus (“rooster”) with the suffix -īna, so that in Portuguese…
galinheiro
It is inherited from Latin gallīnārium (“henhouse”), a noun formed from gallīna (“hen”) with the suffix -ārium (“place for”). Wiktionary gives the old form Old Galician-Portuguese galĩeiro. The…
ganir
It is inherited from Latin ganniō (“to yelp, whimper”), a verb used of dogs and foxes and, of people, for grumbling or whispering. The same Latin verb is Galician ganir, Spanish gañir, Catalan…
gastar
It is inherited from Latin vāstō (“to lay waste, ravage”), written Old Galician-Portuguese gastar and Old Galician-Portuguese guastar in the oldest texts. Its initial /g/ is due to a Germanic word…