Portuguese words from Latin
2023 Portuguese words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 5).
calcar
1. The verb is inherited from Latin calcō (“to tread, trample”), which is formed from calx (“heel”). Houaiss's oldest record, of 1180, comes from Machado's material; the next he gives is from the…
calçar
It is inherited from Latin calceō (“to put on shoes, to shoe”), written Old Galician-Portuguese calçar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from calceus (“shoe”), itself from calx (“heel”)…
caldeira
It is inherited from Late Latin caldāria (“cooking pot”), written Old Galician-Portuguese caldeyra in the oldest texts. The Latin word meant a hot bath, a vessel for hot water and a stove, and is…
caldo
It is inherited from Latin caldus (“warm, hot”), the shortened form of calidus, used as a noun. Nascentes points to the Appendix Probi for the short form. Aurélio suggests some influence of calda…
calo
It is inherited from Latin callum (“hard skin, callus”). The same Latin word is Galician calo, Spanish callo and Italian callo. The French cal is a learned remaking of the older popular Old French…
calor
It is borrowed from Latin calor (“heat, warmth”), an early learned word. Houaiss dates it to the 15th century but calls it an old learned loan of the 14th, because its sounds, with the /l/ kept…
caloso
It is borrowed from Latin callōsus (“hard-skinned, tough”), first recorded in 1570. The Latin adjective is formed from callum (“hardened skin”) with the suffix -ōsus. Wiktionary analyses the…
calvo
It is inherited from Latin calvus (“bald”), written Old Galician-Portuguese caluo in the 13th century. The same Latin adjective is Galician calvo, Spanish calvo, Italian calvo, French chauve and Old…
cama
It is inherited from Late Latin cama (“low bed, bed on the ground”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cama in the oldest texts. As a Latin word it is known only from Isidore of Seville, who describes…
câmara
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin camara (“vault; vaulted room”), written Old Galician-Portuguese camara in the oldest texts. The Latin word is the variant of Latin camera that Petronius and the…
cambiar
It is inherited from Late Latin cambiō (“to exchange”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cambiar in the 13th century. The Latin verb is rare and late, first in Apuleius, beside an older form of the…
caminho
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *camminus (“way, road”), written Old Galician-Portuguese caminho and Old Galician-Portuguese caminno in the oldest texts. Houaiss, Cunha and Aurélio call the Latin…
camisa
It is inherited from Late Latin camisia, written Old Galician-Portuguese camisa in the oldest texts. The Latin word is rare and late: its first clear record is in Jerome, as the name soldiers gave…
campainha
It is formed from Portuguese campa + -inha as a diminutive of the old form Old Galician-Portuguese campãa (“bell”). Nascentes compares fontainha beside fonte, from Latin fontana. Wiktionary and the…
campanha
It comes from Late Latin campānia (“open country, plain”). Houaiss quotes Machado's view that the Latin word is the neuter plural of the adjective campāneus, used as a noun, or else an extension of…
campo
It is inherited from Latin campus (“plain, open level ground”), written Old Galician-Portuguese campo and Old Galician-Portuguese canpo in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician campo…
cana
It is inherited from Latin canna (“small reed, cane”), from Ancient Greek κάννα (kánna, “reed; reed fence”). Houaiss notes that the botanical sense comes directly from the scientific genus name…
canal
It is inherited from Latin canālis (“pipe, channel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese canal in the oldest texts, with a variant Old Galician-Portuguese caal from 1348. Wiktionary suggests that the…
canção
It is inherited from Latin cantiō (“singing, song”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cançon in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician canción, Spanish canción, Catalan cançó, French…
cancelar
It is borrowed from Latin cancellō (“to cover with a lattice; to cross out”), first recorded in 1302 as the participle Old Galician-Portuguese cançelado. Cunha gives the original sense as “to…
candeia
It is inherited from Latin candēla (“tallow candle, taper”), written Old Galician-Portuguese candea in the oldest texts. The medieval form has already lost the Latin -l- between vowels; the modern…
cansar
It is probably inherited from Latin campsō (“to sail round, to double a cape”), a word of the language of sailors. The Latin verb is from Ancient Greek κάμψαι (kámpsai), the aorist of κάμπτω…
cantar
It is inherited from Latin cantō (“to sing”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cantar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is the frequentative of canō (“to sing”), but in meaning it mostly agrees…
canto
1. The word for the corner is inherited from Latin canthus (“iron tyre of a wheel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese canto in the oldest texts. Houaiss derives the Latin word from Ancient Greek…
cantor
It is inherited from Latin cantor (“singer”). The Latin noun is formed from canō (“to sing”) with the agent suffix -tor. De Vaan derives the verb from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂n-e- (“to sing”). The…
cão
It is inherited from Latin canis (“dog”), from the accusative form, written Old Galician-Portuguese can and Old Galician-Portuguese cão in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician can…
capa
It is inherited from Late Latin cappa (“hood; hooded cloak”), written Old Galician-Portuguese capa in the oldest texts. Houaiss glosses the Late Latin noun as a covering for the head and a kind of…
capacidade
It is borrowed from Latin capācitās (“capacity; mental grasp”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed from capāx (“able to hold”) with the suffix -tās, and the adjective from capiō (“to take; to…
capão
1. The word for the castrated cockerel is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cappō, the form with a doubled -pp- of Latin cāpō (“capon”), written Old Galician-Portuguese capon in the oldest texts. The…
capaz
It is borrowed from Latin capāx (“able to hold; capable”), first recorded in the 15th century. Houaiss glosses the Latin word as “that can hold, that can grasp or understand”. Wiktionary calls it…
capela
It is inherited from Late Latin cappella (“little cloak, chapel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese capela in the oldest texts. The Latin noun is a diminutive of cappa (“hood, cape”). Houaiss…
capelo
It is inherited from Medieval Latin cappellus (“head covering, hat”), written Old Galician-Portuguese capelo in the oldest texts. The Latin noun is a diminutive of Late Latin cappa (“hood; hooded…
capitão
It is borrowed from Late Latin capitānus (“chief, commander”), from Latin caput (“head”), first recorded as Old Galician-Portuguese capitam in 1344. The Late Latin word stands beside capitāneus…
cara
It is inherited from Late Latin cara (“face”), from Ancient Greek κάρα (kára, “head”). The Late Latin word is recorded only weakly: once in a glossary, where it is given as Greek, then in medieval…
caramelo
It is probably inherited from Late Latin calamellus (“small reed”), a diminutive of Latin calamus (“reed”). The Latin noun was itself borrowed from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed”). The first…
cárcere
It is inherited from Latin carcer (“prison; starting gates of a racecourse”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carcer in the oldest texts. In the Cantigas de Santa Maria it is both masculine and…
carecer
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *carēscō, the inchoative of Latin careō (“to lack, be without”). Lewis & Short and the DCECH note that the inchoative is found only in a few glosses. The same verb…
caridade
It is inherited from Latin cāritās (“dearness; love, affection”), written Old Galician-Portuguese caridade in the oldest texts. The Latin noun is formed from cārus (“dear”) with the suffix -tās, and…
carnal
It is inherited from Latin carnālis (“of the flesh”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carnal in the oldest texts. The Latin adjective is formed from carō (“flesh”) with the suffix -ālis. It belongs…
carne
It is inherited from Latin carō (“flesh, meat”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carne in the oldest texts. The Portuguese word continues the oblique stem ⟨carn-⟩ of the Latin noun, not its…
caro
It is inherited from Latin cārus (“dear, precious, beloved”), already Old Galician-Portuguese caro in the 13th-century texts. The Latin word meant both “costly” and “dear, loved”, and the Portuguese…
carregar
It is inherited from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), formed on carrus (“wagon, cart”), and written Old Galician-Portuguese carregar in the oldest texts. Cunha, Aurélio and the DLP call the Latin…
carreira
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *carrāria, short for via carrāria (“road for carts”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carreira and Old Galician-Portuguese carreyra in the oldest texts. Wiktionary…
carro
It is inherited from Latin carrus (“wagon”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carro in the oldest texts. Houaiss notes that Late Latin also had a neuter carrum. The same Latin word is Galician carro…
carta
It is inherited from Latin charta (“papyrus leaf; paper”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carta in the oldest texts. The Latin word, also spelt carta, is from Ancient Greek χάρτης (khártēs…
carvão
It is inherited from Latin carbo (“a piece of charcoal”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carvon in the oldest texts. The Latin group -rb- became -rv-, as in árvore, sorver and turvar. The old…
carvoeiro
It is inherited from Latin carbōnārius (“charcoal burner”), written Old Galician-Portuguese carboeyro and Old Galician-Portuguese caruoeyro in the oldest texts. Vieira derived the word from the old…
casa
It is inherited from Latin casa (“hut, cottage”), written Old Galician-Portuguese casa in the oldest texts. In Latin the word meant a humble dwelling or hovel; the ordinary word for “house” was…
casal
It is inherited from Late Latin casālis (“of a house, belonging to a house”), an adjective that Medieval Latin used as a noun, casale, for a group of houses, the bounds of an estate, or a farm. The…
caso
It is borrowed from Latin cāsus (“a fall; an event, chance”), a learned word according to Wiktionary. Houaiss, Cunha and Nascentes simply derive it from the Latin noun. Houaiss records the…
castelão
It is inherited from Latin castellānus (“of a castle, (plural) the garrison of a castle”), written Old Galician-Portuguese castelão in the oldest texts. The Latin adjective is formed from castellum…
castelo
It is inherited from Latin castellum (“fortified settlement, fort”), written Old Galician-Portuguese castelo in the oldest texts. The Latin word is a diminutive of castrum (“fortified place, camp”)…
castigar
It is inherited from Latin castīgō (“to reprove, correct, chastise”), written Old Galician-Portuguese castigar in the oldest texts. Wiktionary adds that it may have been an early borrowing rather…
casto
It is inherited from Latin castus (“pure, chaste”), written Old Galician-Portuguese casto in the oldest texts. Wiktionary notes that it may have been taken from Latin rather than inherited, and the…
causação
It is borrowed from Latin causātiō (“pretext, excuse; occasion; illness; accusation”). The Latin noun is formed from causor (“to plead as a reason”) with the suffix -tiō. Michaelis and DELPo analyse…
causalidade
According to Houaiss, the DLP and Porto Editora it is borrowed from Medieval Latin causālitās. Cunha gives the Latin word too. Wiktionary, Aurélio, Michaelis and Silva Bastos analyse it as formed…
cavaleiro
It is inherited from Late Latin caballārius (“groom, horseman”), written Old Galician-Portuguese caualeyro in the oldest texts. Michaelis and DELPo analyse it as cavalo with the suffix -eiro. The…
cavalgar
It is inherited from Late Latin caballico (“to ride”), written Old Galician-Portuguese caualgar and Old Galician-Portuguese cavalgar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from caballus…
cavalo
It is inherited from Late Latin caballus (“horse”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cavalo in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician cabalo, Spanish caballo, Catalan cavall, Occitan…
cavar
It is inherited from Latin cavō (“to make hollow, hollow out”), recorded in Portuguese from 1272 and spelt Old Galician-Portuguese cauar in the 14th century. The same Latin verb is Galician cavar…