Portuguese words from Latin
2023 Portuguese words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 6).
cear
It is inherited from Latin cēnō (“to dine”) written Old Galician-Portuguese cẽar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from cēna (“dinner”), the source of ceia. The same Latin verb is…
cego
It is inherited from Latin caecus (“blind; dark”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cego in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician cego, Spanish ciego, Catalan cec, Old French cieu and…
ceia
It is inherited from Latin cēna (“dinner, the main meal of the day”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cẽa in the oldest texts. The Latin /n/ between vowels was lost, as in aveia from avēna, and the…
cela
It is from Latin cella (“storeroom, small room”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cela in the oldest texts. In Classical Latin the word meant a store or larder, and in Medieval Latin a monk's or…
celeiro
It is inherited from Latin cellārium (“storeroom, pantry”), written Old Galician-Portuguese çeleyro in 1265. The Latin noun is formed from cella (“store, larder”) with the suffix -ārium. The same…
centauro
It is borrowed from Latin centaurus (“centaur”), which is from Ancient Greek κένταυρος (kéntauros). The Greek word was first the name of a savage people living between Pelion and Ossa in Thessaly…
cento
It is inherited from Latin centum (“hundred”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cento in the oldest texts. cem is a shortened form of the same word, from its use before a noun. In the medieval…
central
It is borrowed from Latin centrālis (“situated in the centre”), first recorded in Bluteau's dictionary of 1712. Wiktionary adds that by surface analysis it is centro with the suffix -al. The Latin…
centro
It is borrowed from Latin centrum (“the fixed leg of a pair of compasses; centre of a circle”), which is from Ancient Greek κέντρον (kéntron, “goad, sharp point; centre of a circle”). The Latin word…
centurião
It is borrowed from Latin centuriō (“commander of a century”), through its oblique stem. The same Latin word gives Spanish centurión. The Latin noun is formed from centuria (“a division of a hundred…
cepo
It is inherited from Latin cippus (“post, boundary stone”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cepo in the oldest texts. Houaiss gives the Latin senses “boundary marker”, “funerary column”, “barrier of…
cera
It is inherited from Latin cēra (“wax”), with the same form Old Galician-Portuguese cera in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician cera, Spanish cera, Catalan cera, Italian cera, French…
cercar
It is inherited from Late Latin circō (“to go round, travel through”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cercar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed on circā (“around”), or directly on circus…
cereja
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin ceresia (“cherries”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cereija in the old language. The Vulgar Latin word was the neuter plural of ceresium, taken as a feminine…
cernir
It is inherited from Latin cernō (“to sift; to separate, distinguish”), with the infinitive in -ir. Spanish has the verb as Spanish cerner, with a variant Spanish cernir that the DCECH explains as a…
cerrar
In Wiktionary's account it is inherited from Vulgar Latin serrō (“to close, shut”), from Late Latin, and Cunha takes it directly from Late Latin; it is written Old Galician-Portuguese serrar, Old…
certo
It is inherited from Latin certus (“decided, fixed, sure”), written Old Galician-Portuguese certo in the oldest texts. The Latin adjective was originally the past participle of cernō (“to sift; to…
cerveja
It is inherited from Latin cervēsia (“beer”), also written cerevisia, first recorded in the 15th century. The Latin word is of Gaulish origin and is first found in Pliny. Wiktionary takes it from a…
cerviz
It is inherited from Latin cervix (“neck, nape”), through its accusative, stressed on the second syllable. The oldest texts write it Old Galician-Portuguese serviz and Old Galician-Portuguese…
cervo
It is inherited from Latin cervus (“stag, deer”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cervo and Old Galician-Portuguese ceruo in the oldest texts. Houaiss derives the modern zoological term from the…
céspede
Wiktionary takes it as inherited from Latin caespes (“sod, turf”), through its accusative. Houaiss gives the Latin word in both spellings, with and without the diphthong. The spelling cēspes is…
cessar
It is borrowed from Latin cessō (“to hold back, desist, rest”), first recorded in 1344. Houaiss, Nascentes and Vieira simply derive it from the Latin verb. Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing…
cesta
It is inherited from Latin cista (“box, basket”), from Ancient Greek κίστη (kístē, “basket, chest”). Houaiss calls it the popular outcome of the Latin word, which was later borrowed again as a…
céu
It is inherited from Latin caelum (“sky, vault of heaven”), written Old Galician-Portuguese ceo in the oldest texts. Houaiss also names the masculine by-form caelus. The same Latin word is Galician…
chaga
It is inherited from Latin plāga (“blow, wound”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chaga in the oldest texts. Latin initial /pl/ became /tʃ/, spelt ⟨ch⟩, as in chantar and chorar. Houaiss…
chamar
It is inherited from Latin clāmō (“to shout, cry out”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chamar from the first records. Houaiss calls it the popular form of the Latin verb; clamar is the learned…
chantar
It is inherited from Latin plantō (“to plant”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chantar in the oldest texts. Latin initial /pl/ became /tʃ/, spelt ⟨ch⟩, as in chaga and chorar. The Latin verb is…
chão
It is inherited from Latin plānus (“flat, level”), in its neuter plānum (“level ground”) for the noun, written Old Galician-Portuguese chão in the oldest texts. Houaiss calls it the popular outcome…
chato
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flat, flattened”), a popular adaptation, from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús, “broad, flat”). Cunha dates it to the 16th century, and Houaiss to 1650. The…
chave
It is inherited from Latin clāvis (“key, bar”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chaue in the oldest Portuguese record, of 1277. The Latin group /kl/ at the start of the word changed to ⟨ch⟩, as…
chegar
It is inherited from Latin plicō (“to fold”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chegar in the oldest texts, though Houaiss calls the origin disputed. Latin /pl/ became /ʃ/, spelt ⟨ch⟩, as in chuva and…
cheio
It is inherited from Latin plēnus (“full”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cheo in the oldest texts. It is the popular counterpart of the learned pleno, taken from the same Latin word. The Latin…
cheirar
It is inherited from Late Latin flagrō (“to smell”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cheirar in the oldest texts. This Vulgar and Late Latin verb is the classical Latin frāgrō (“to smell strongly”)…
chorar
It is inherited from Latin plōrō (“to wail, lament”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chorar in the oldest texts, with a variant Old Galician-Portuguese churar. The Latin group /pl/ at the start of…
choupo
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *ploppus, an altered form of pōpulus (“poplar”), with the ⟨l⟩ moved into the first syllable. Houaiss and Cunha write the intermediate form *poplus. Corominas…
chover
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *plovō (“to rain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chover in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin verb replaced the classical Latin pluō (“to rain”). Nascentes notes…
chumaço
It is inherited from Late Latin plūmācium (“feather bed, feather pillow”), from plūma (“feather”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chumaço in the oldest Portuguese texts. Latin initial /pl/ became…
chumbo
It is inherited from Latin plumbum (“lead”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chunbo in 1266, Old Galician-Portuguese chumbo before 1279 and also Old Galician-Portuguese chubo in the 14th century…
chuva
It is inherited from Latin pluvia (“rain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese chuvia and Old Galician-Portuguese chovia in the oldest texts. The Latin ⟨pl-⟩ appears as ⟨ch-⟩. Nascentes, following…
cicatriz
It is borrowed from Latin cicātrīx (“scar”), a learned word. Cunha dates it to the 16th century, Houaiss to 1670. The same Latin word was borrowed as Spanish cicatriz, Galician cicatriz, Catalan…
cidade
It is inherited from Latin cīvitās (“citizenship; the citizens; state; city”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cidade in the oldest texts. Nascentes supposes an intermediate stage like çibdade and…
ciência
It is borrowed from Latin scientia (“knowledge”), a learned word. The Latin noun is formed from sciēns (“knowing”), the present participle of sciō (“to know”), with the abstract suffix -ia. De Vaan…
cigarra
It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *cicāra, a variant of cicāda (“cicada”). Houaiss calls the origin disputed: Cunha follows Corominas, who posits the variant for Spanish cigarra and holds…
cilha
It is inherited from Latin cingula (“girth”), from cingō (“to gird”); the oldest texts write it Old Galician-Portuguese cinlha, Old Galician-Portuguese çenlha and Old Galician-Portuguese çilla. In…
cima
It is inherited from Latin cȳma (“young shoot of a cabbage”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cima in the oldest texts. In Vulgar Latin the word came to mean the part that stands out at the top of…
cimento
It is inherited from Latin caementum (“rough stone, rubble”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cimento in the oldest texts. In Late Latin the word also meant “mortar”: Nascentes notes this sense in…
cinco
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin cinque (“five”), the Vulgar Latin form of Classical quīnque, written Old Galician-Portuguese cinque and Old Galician-Portuguese cinco in the oldest texts. The…
cingir
It is inherited from Latin cingō (“to gird, surround”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cinger and Old Galician-Portuguese cengir in the oldest texts. Nascentes considers the form in -er the archaic…
cinquenta
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin cīnquāgintā (“fifty”), the dissimilated form of classical quīnquāgintā, written Old Galician-Portuguese cinquaenta and Old Galician-Portuguese cincoenta in the…
cinta
It is inherited from Latin cincta, the feminine of cinctus (“girded”), the past participle of cingō (“to gird, surround”), used as a noun. Wiktionary takes it instead from the Late Latin plural of…
cintura
It is inherited from Latin cinctūra (“a girdle, a means of girding”), written Old Galician-Portuguese çintura and Old Galician-Portuguese çentura in the oldest texts. The Latin noun is formed from…
cinza
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cinisia (“ashes mixed with embers”), a collective noun formed on Latin cinis (“ashes”); the oldest Portuguese form is Old Galician-Portuguese cĩisa. Houaiss…
círculo
It is borrowed from Latin circulus (“ring, hoop; circle”), a learned word recorded from the 15th century. Houaiss lists the Latin senses “wheel, ring, plane figure bounded by the circumference…
circunstância
Houaiss, Wiktionary, Aurélio and the DLP take it as borrowed from Latin circumstantia (“a standing around; circumstance, particular”). Cunha instead derives it from French circonstance, itself from…
civilidade
It is borrowed from Latin cīvīlitās (“the art of government; courtesy”), formed from cīvīlis (“civil”) with the suffix -tās. Cunha instead derives it from French civilité, itself from the Latin…
claro
It is borrowed from Latin clārus (“clear, bright; loud”). Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing that displaced the older popular form Old Galician-Portuguese craro. Houaiss records both forms in…
cliente
It is borrowed from Latin cliēns (“a dependant under a patron's protection”), a learned word. Aurélio and the Wikcionário bring it in through French client, which the French had borrowed from Latin…
coalhar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *coāglō (“to curdle”), the syncopated form of Latin coāgulō (“to curdle”), written Old Galician-Portuguese qualhar and Old Galician-Portuguese coallar in the oldest…
coalho
Houaiss and Wiktionary take it as inherited from Latin coāgulum (“rennet, curdled milk”), as the popular form beside the learned coágulo. Wiktionary traces it through a syncopated Late Latin quāglum…
coar
It is inherited from Latin cōlō (“to strain, filter”), written Old Galician-Portuguese collar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from cōlum (“strainer”), a sieve of rushes or wicker for…