Portuguese words from Latin
2023 Portuguese words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 16).
hóspede
It is inherited from Latin hospes (“guest; host”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ospede in the oldest texts. Houaiss glosses the Latin word both as the one who receives a stranger and as the one…
hospital
It is borrowed from Late Latin hospitāle (“guesthouse, hospice”), written Old Galician-Portuguese espital and Old Galician-Portuguese spital as well as Old Galician-Portuguese hospital in the oldest…
hoste
It is inherited from Latin hostis (“stranger; enemy”), written Old Galician-Portuguese oste in the oldest texts. Nascentes alone calls it a learned word. The sense “army” grew out of the collective…
humor
It is borrowed from Latin humor (“fluid, moisture”), written Old Galician-Portuguese umor in the oldest texts. The Latin word is a later spelling of ūmor, from the time when /h/ was no longer…
idade
The word is inherited from Latin, written Old Galician-Portuguese ydade and Old Galician-Portuguese jdade in the oldest texts, but the sources disagree on the Latin form. Houaiss takes it as…
identidade
It is borrowed from Late Latin identitās (“sameness”), borrowed in the 17th century. Houaiss finds the Latin word first in Martianus Capella, about 425, and Aurélio calls it Late Latin, while Cunha…
igreja
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin eclēsia, written Old Galician-Portuguese igreja in the oldest texts; the Vulgar Latin word is the popular form of Latin ecclēsia (“assembly; congregation of…
igual
It is inherited from Latin aequālis (“equal, level; of the same age”), written Old Galician-Portuguese igual and Old Galician-Portuguese ygual in the oldest texts. The Latin adjective is formed from…
igualdade
It is inherited from Latin aequālitās (“equality, evenness”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ygualdade in the oldest texts. Wikcionário analyses it instead as igual with the suffix -dade, and Cunha…
imagem
It is borrowed from Latin imāgō (“likeness, representation, portrait”), taken from the stem of its oblique cases, as in the accusative imāginem. The REW lists the Portuguese word among the learned…
imaginar
It is borrowed from Latin imāginor (“to picture to oneself, imagine”), a learned word. Cunha, Nascentes, the DLP and Aurélio give the active form imāginō, which Houaiss finds in Aulus Gellius in the…
imaturo
It is borrowed from Latin immātūrus (“unripe; untimely”). Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and mātūrus (“ripe, mature”). The inherited Portuguese word…
imperador
It is inherited from Latin imperātor (“commander; emperor”), written Old Galician-Portuguese emperador or Old Galician-Portuguese enperador in the oldest texts. The modern form is a remodelling of…
imperatriz
It is inherited from Latin imperātrīx (“she who commands”), written Old Galician-Portuguese emperadriz in the oldest texts. Nascentes calls it semi-learned, and Wiktionary a learned borrowing from…
imperfeito
It is borrowed from Latin imperfectus (“unfinished, incomplete”), recorded from the 15th century. The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and perfectus (“finished, perfect”), the past…
império
It is borrowed from Latin imperium (“command, authority; empire”), taken over by the learned route. The oldest texts write Old Galician-Portuguese emperio and Old Galician-Portuguese empeiro; the…
impessoal
It is borrowed from Latin impersōnālis (“impersonal”), a semi-learned borrowing, as Wiktionary and Nascentes describe it. The Latin adjective was a term of the grammarians, for verbs without…
importar
It is borrowed from Latin importō (“to bring in, carry in; to cause”), first recorded in 1501. The Latin verb is made of in- (“in, into”) and portō (“to carry”). Houaiss notes that in Latin it…
impossível
It is borrowed from Latin impossibilis (“impossible”), formed in Latin from in- (“not”) and possibilis (“possible”). Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word. The Latin adjective is post-Augustan: the…
impostor
It is borrowed from Late Latin impostor (“deceiver”), a learned word. The Latin noun is a later form of impositor, an agent noun of Latin impōnō (“to place upon; to impose on, deceive”). Several…
impotência
It is borrowed from Latin impotentia (“lack of power or strength”), recorded from about 1543. Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word. Wiktionary analyses it within Portuguese as im- and potência…
impotente
It is borrowed from Latin impotēns (“powerless, weak”), first recorded in 1563. Nascentes calls it a learned word. The Latin adjective is formed from in- (“not”) and potēns (“strong, powerful”). The…
incêndio
It is borrowed from Latin incendium (“fire, conflagration”), first recorded in 1552. Houaiss lists the many senses of the Latin word: strong heat, a blaze, a torch for setting fires, and…
inchação
It is inherited from Latin inflātiō (“swelling; flatulence”), written Old Galician-Portuguese inchaçon in the oldest texts. Houaiss calls it a popular development, and its learned doublet is…
inchar
It is inherited from Latin īnflō (“to blow into, inflate”), written Old Galician-Portuguese inchar and Old Galician-Portuguese ynchar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from in- and flō…
incitar
It is borrowed from Latin incitō (“to set in rapid motion; to rouse, urge on”), a learned word. The Latin verb is in- and citō (“to set in motion”), the frequentative of cieō (“to move, stir up”)…
indiano
It is borrowed from Latin indiānus (“Indian”), a learned word; Cunha calls the Latin word Late Latin. Wiktionary and the DLP also analyse it as a Portuguese formation, the place name Índia with the…
infante
1. The word for the child and the prince is inherited from Latin īnfāns (“not speaking; small child”), written Old Galician-Portuguese infante and Old Galician-Portuguese ifante in the oldest texts…
inferno
It is inherited from Latin īnfernus (“hell; the underworld”), written Old Galician-Portuguese inferno or Old Galician-Portuguese iferno in the oldest texts. In classical Latin the word was an…
inimigo
It is inherited from Latin inimīcus (“unfriendly; enemy”), whose regular outcome in the oldest texts is Old Galician-Portuguese ẽemigo. The modern form was refashioned on the Latin word, a…
inimizade
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *inimīcitās (“enmity”), a form beside the classical noun Latin inimīcitia, written Old Galician-Portuguese eemizade in the medieval texts. It is built like amizade…
insistir
It is borrowed from Latin īnsistō (“to stand on; to press on”), with a change of conjugation. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin verb meant “to stand firm, to set foot on” and figuratively…
inspirar
It is borrowed from Latin inspīrō (“to blow into; to breathe; to inspire”), a learned word, recorded as Old Galician-Portuguese insperar in the 14th century. Medieval Latin used the verb in the…
inteiro
It is inherited from Latin integer (“untouched, whole”), through the popular form, written Old Galician-Portuguese enteiro in the oldest texts. In spoken Latin the stress moved to the second…
inteligível
It is borrowed from Latin intelligibilis (“that can be understood”), recorded from 1510. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin adjective, also written intellegibilis, is formed on intellegō…
intenção
It is inherited from Latin intentiō (“a stretching; effort; purpose”), written Old Galician-Portuguese entençom in the oldest texts. Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word, and Wiktionary says that…
interesse
It is borrowed from Medieval Latin interesse (“compensation; interest on money”), the infinitive of the classical verb “to be between; to matter, concern” used as a noun. Houaiss starts from the…
inveja
It is inherited from Latin invidia (“envy, ill will”), written Old Galician-Portuguese enveja in the medieval language. Nascentes and Wiktionary explain the modern ⟨in-⟩ as a remodelling of the old…
invejoso
It is inherited from Latin invidiōsus (“envious; arousing envy”), written Old Galician-Portuguese enveioso in the oldest texts. The Latin adjective is formed on invidia (“envy”) with the suffix…
invernar
Cunha, Aurélio and Porto Editora take it inherited from Latin hībernō (“to spend the winter”), Aurélio adding that it came down by the popular route. Houaiss instead analyses it as a Portuguese…
inverno
It is inherited from Late Latin hībernum (“winter”), through the old form Old Galician-Portuguese iverno. The Latin noun is the neuter of hībernus (“of winter”), used alone for a phrase with tempus…
ir
It is inherited from Latin eō (“to go”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ir in the oldest texts. Houaiss stresses that the Portuguese verb is more complex than this: it joins three stems that were…
ira
It is inherited from Latin īra (“anger, rage”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ira in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Spanish ira, Catalan ira, French ire and Italian ira. Corominas calls…
irmão
It is inherited from Latin germānus (“brother”), short for frāter germānus “brother of the same parents”, in which the adjective meant “of the same stock, true”. The adjective is derived from germen…
isca
It is inherited from Latin ēsca (“food; bait”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ysca in the 14th century. Its initial ⟨i⟩ is a difficulty, which the sources explain in different ways. Nascentes…
já
It is inherited from Latin iam (“now, already”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ia in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician xa, Spanish ya, Catalan ja and Italian già, and survives in…
jamais
In Houaiss's view it is probably inherited from Latin iam magis (“already more”), a phrase made of iam (“now, already”) and magis (“more”), and it is written Old Galician-Portuguese jamais in the…
janeiro
It is inherited from Latin Iānuārius (“January”), written Old Galician-Portuguese janeyro in many of the oldest texts. The Latin word was first an adjective, “of Janus”, used as a noun for the month…
janela
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *iānuella (“little door”), a diminutive of Latin iānua (“door”) formed with -ella, written Old Galician-Portuguese janella in the old language. The REW lists it…
jaspe
It is borrowed from Latin iaspis (“jasper, a green precious stone”), which is from Ancient Greek ἴασπις (íaspis). Houaiss notes that it continues the Latin nominative; the oldest form is Old…
jazer
It is inherited from Latin iaceō (“to lie, be lying down”), with the same form Old Galician-Portuguese jazer in the oldest texts. The same Latin verb is Romanian zăcea, Italian giacere, French…
jejuar
It is inherited from Late Latin ieiūnō (“to fast”), written Old Galician-Portuguese jajũar and Old Galician-Portuguese jejũar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from the adjective ieiūnus…
jejum
It is inherited from Latin iēiūnus (“fasting, hungry”), in its Vulgar Latin form jājūnus, an adjective used as a noun. The oldest Galician-Portuguese form is Old Galician-Portuguese jajũu. Houaiss…
joelho
It is inherited from Late Latin genuculum (“knee”), through the old form Old Galician-Portuguese geollo (also Old Galician-Portuguese gẽollo), which became the present form by metathesis. The Late…
jogador
It is formed from Portuguese jogar + -dor, already as Old Galician-Portuguese jogador in the oldest texts. Houaiss analyses it as the stem of the participle jogado with the suffix -or. Cunha dates…
jogar
It is inherited from Latin iocō (“to jest”), the active form that in popular Latin replaced the deponent iocor, itself from iocus (“joke, jest”). Romance added to the Latin sense the notions of…
jogo
It is inherited from Latin iocus (“joke, jest”), written Old Galician-Portuguese jogo in the oldest texts. Houaiss and Aurélio note that the Latin word for “joke, jest, mockery” replaced classical…
joio
It is inherited from Latin lolium (“darnel”), through a Vulgar Latin form with dissimilation of the first /l/. The intermediate form is given differently: Wiktionary has Vulgar Latin *iolium, Cunha…
jovem
It is inherited from Latin iuvenis (“young; young man, young woman”). Houaiss notes that the Latin word was both an adjective and a noun meaning a youth. The same Latin word is Galician xove…
judeu
It is borrowed from Latin iūdaeus (“Jew, Judaean”), written Old Galician-Portuguese judeu in the oldest texts. Nascentes calls it a learned word, and the DCECH finds the learned character of the…