Portuguese words from Latin
2023 Portuguese words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 7).
cobertura
It is inherited from Late Latin coopertūra (“a covering”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cubertura and Old Galician-Portuguese cobertura in the oldest texts. The Latin noun was formed from…
cobra
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *colobra, written Old Galician-Portuguese coobra in the oldest texts. This is an altered form of Latin colubra (“snake”), the feminine beside coluber; the Appendix…
cobrir
It is inherited from Latin cooperiō (“to cover completely”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cobrir in the oldest texts. The same Latin verb is Galician cubrir, Spanish cubrir, Catalan cobrir…
codicilo
It is borrowed from Latin cōdicillus (“small log; writing tablets; codicil”), the diminutive of cōdex (“trunk; book”). Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word, and in his fuller dictionary notes that…
código
It is borrowed from Latin cōdex (“writing, register, book”), taken over by a half-learned route and moved into another declension. The Latin word was applied above all to the code of Justinian and…
coelho
It is inherited from Latin cuniculus (“rabbit”), through the spoken Latin of the Peninsula, written Old Galician-Portuguese cõello and Old Galician-Portuguese cõelho in the oldest texts. The Latin…
coentro
It is inherited from Latin coriandrum (“coriander”), in a popular development, probably through the dissimilated form coliandrum. Houaiss reconstructs the steps *colandro, *coandro and then coendro…
cogombro
It is inherited from Latin cucumerus (“cucumber”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cogonbro and Old Galician-Portuguese cobrombo in the oldest texts. This is the classical cucumis moved into the…
coisa
It is inherited from Latin causa (“cause, reason; lawsuit; matter”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cousa in the oldest texts. Houaiss explains the present form as the old one with the semivowel of…
colega
It is borrowed from Latin collēga (“colleague, partner in office”). The Latin noun is formed from con- (“with”) and lēgō (“to appoint, delegate”) with the agent suffix -a. Lewis & Short explain it…
colegiado
It is borrowed from Late Latin collēgiātus (“member of a college; collegiate”), first recorded as an adjective in 1431. Michaelis and Wiktionary also read it as colégio with the suffix -ado, and the…
colher
1. The word for gathering and picking is inherited from Latin colligō (“to bring together, collect”), written Old Galician-Portuguese colher and coller in the 13th century. Houaiss explains the…
colina
1. The word for the hill is borrowed from Late Latin collīna (“hilly region”) according to Houaiss, the noun use of the feminine of collīnus (“of a hill”). Cunha takes it instead from French…
colo
It is inherited from Latin collum (“neck”), written Old Galician-Portuguese colo in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician colo, Spanish cuello, Catalan coll, Occitan còl, French cou and…
com
It is inherited from Latin cum (“with”), written Old Galician-Portuguese con and Old Galician-Portuguese cu in the oldest texts. In Latin the preposition took the ablative and expressed company…
comadre
It is inherited from Late Latin commāter (“godmother”), the Christian Latin word for the woman who became a second mother to a child at its baptism. The Latin word is formed from com- (“together”)…
combater
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *combattō (“to fight with”), written Old Galician-Portuguese combater in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin verb is an altered form of Late Latin combattuō…
começar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cominitiō, written Old Galician-Portuguese começar in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin verb is made of com- and initiō, which in classical Latin meant “to admit…
comer
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *comeō, written Old Galician-Portuguese comer in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin form is a remaking of comedō (“to eat up”), the source Houaiss, Cunha and the…
cometer
It is inherited from Latin committō (“to join; to entrust; to commit”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cometer in the oldest texts. Nascentes thinks it came down by a semi-learned route. The same…
comigo
It is formed from Portuguese com + migo. The old Old Galician-Portuguese migo, also Old Galician-Portuguese mego, is from Latin mēcum (“with me”), which is mē (“me”) with the postposed cum (“with”)…
cominho
It is inherited from Latin cumīnum (“cumin”), borrowed into Latin from Ancient Greek κύμινον (kúminon). The Greek word, already Mycenaean (⟨ku-mi-no⟩), is a loan from Semitic; compare Biblical…
comissão
It is borrowed from Latin commissio (“a committing; a commission”), from the stem of commissum, the supine of committō (“to bring together; to entrust”). Wiktionary calls it a learned borrowing…
como
It is inherited from Latin cōmō (“how”), the shortened non-literary form of quōmodo (“in what way”), written Old Galician-Portuguese como in the oldest texts. Cunha and Aurélio call the short form…
cómodo
It is borrowed from Latin commodus (“suitable, convenient, advantageous”). Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word. The same Latin word was borrowed as Spanish cómodo, French commode, Italian comodo…
compadre
It is inherited from Late Latin compater (“one who shares in fatherhood; consort”), written Old Galician-Portuguese conpadre in the oldest texts. The Late Latin word is formed from com- (“with…
companha
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *compania, written Old Galician-Portuguese companha in the oldest texts. The Vulgar Latin noun is a collective formed on Late Latin compāniō (“companion…
compensar
It is borrowed from Latin compēnsō (“to weigh together, balance, make good”), a learned word first recorded in 1441. Nascentes notes that it came in by the learned route, without the sound changes…
completo
It is borrowed from Latin complētus (“complete, rounded off”), the past participle of compleō (“to fill up”), first recorded in the 16th century. Nascentes calls it a learned word and glosses the…
compor
It is inherited from Latin compōnō (“to put together, arrange”), written Old Galician-Portuguese compõer and Old Galician-Portuguese conpoer in the oldest texts. Nascentes too derives the modern…
comportar
It is borrowed from Latin comportō (“to carry together, bring together”), a learned word. The Latin verb is formed from con- and portō (“to carry”). The same Latin word was taken into Spanish…
comprar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *comperō, from comparō (“to prepare, procure, obtain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese comprar and Old Galician-Portuguese conprar in the oldest texts. Houaiss…
comum
It is inherited from Latin commūnis (“common, shared, general”). Nascentes says it came by a semi-learned route. The medieval language more often used comunal, recorded from the 13th century, from…
comunal
It is inherited from Late Latin commūnālis, formed from commūnis (“common, shared”) with the suffix -ālis, written Old Galician-Portuguese comunal and Old Galician-Portuguese comũal in the oldest…
comunhão
It is borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin commūniō (“communion”), the Church Latin sense of a word that in classical Latin meant "sharing, association". Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word, one…
comunicativo
It is borrowed from Late Latin commūnicātīvus (“fit for communicating, communicative”), first recorded in the 15th century. Nascentes calls it semi-learned, and DELPo places the Latin word in…
comunicável
It is borrowed from Latin commūnicābilis (“that can be communicated”), formed from commūnicō (“to share, communicate”) with the suffix -bilis. Nascentes takes it from the Latin word by a…
comunidade
It is borrowed from Latin commūnitās (“community, fellowship”), first recorded in 1272. Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word. The Latin noun is formed from commūnis (“belonging to many or to all…
conceber
It is inherited from Latin concipiō (“to take in; to conceive”), written Old Galician-Portuguese conceber in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed con- and capiō (“to take, seize”). Wiktionary…
conceder
It is borrowed from Latin concēdō (“to withdraw, give way; to grant”), a learned word. The Latin verb is formed from con- and cēdō (“to go, to give way”). Its senses ran from “to go away, withdraw”…
concessão
It is borrowed from Latin concessiō (“a yielding, granting”), recorded as conçessom in the 15th century. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin noun is formed from concēdō (“to give way, grant”)…
concurso
It is borrowed from Latin concursus (“a running together, a gathering”), a learned word. Houaiss dates the word to 1570, with an earlier spelling in 1552. Cunha has 1570. The Latin noun is formed…
conde
It is inherited from Latin comes (“companion”), written Old Galician-Portuguese conde in the oldest texts. Latin charters show the intermediate form comide. In the Late Empire the Latin word, “one…
condição
It is borrowed from Latin condiciō (“agreement, stipulation; condition”), also spelt conditiō in later Latin. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The Latin word meant a formula of agreement between two…
conduzir
It is borrowed from Latin condūcō (“to bring together; to lead; to hire”), formed of con- and dūcō (“to lead”). Nascentes counts it a semi-learned word. Its ending is that of the other Portuguese…
confiar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōnfīdō (“to trust”), the classical cōnfīdō moved from the third conjugation to the first, as Houaiss, the DLP and Aurélio reconstruct it; it is already spelt as…
confirmar
It is borrowed from Latin cōnfirmō (“to strengthen, consolidate, confirm”), by the learned route. The Latin verb is formed con- + firmō (“to strengthen”), from firmus (“firm, stable”). The same…
confundir
It is borrowed from Latin cōnfundō (“to pour together, mix; to confuse”), moved into the -ir conjugation. Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word. The medieval language also had the popular forms Old…
confuso
It is borrowed from Latin cōnfūsus (“mixed, mingled”), the past participle of cōnfundō (“to pour together, mix, confuse”), taken into Portuguese as a learned word. Houaiss and Cunha date it to the…
conhecer
It is inherited from Latin cognōscō (“to get to know”), first as Old Galician-Portuguese conhocer and Old Galician-Portuguese connocer; the present form appears in the 14th century. Latin ⟨gn⟩…
conjurar
It is borrowed from Latin coniūrō (“to swear together, conspire”), a learned word. Cunha dates it to the 13th century. The same Latin verb is Galician conxurar, Spanish conjurar, Catalan conjurar…
conquistar
It is inherited from Medieval Latin conquistō (“to conquer”) according to Houaiss and Cunha, and Houaiss treats the Medieval Latin verb as a frequentative of Latin conquīrō (“to seek out everywhere…
consagrar
It is inherited from Late Latin cōnsacrō (“to consecrate”), the Late Latin form of cōnsecrō, written Old Galician-Portuguese consagrar in the oldest texts. Figueiredo analyses the old form as cum…
conseguir
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōnsequō (“to follow; to achieve”), the active verb (Houaiss and Cunha quote its infinitive) that replaced the classical deponent Latin cōnsequor. Porto Editora…
conselheiro
It is inherited from Latin cōnsiliārius (“advising, counselling”), written Old Galician-Portuguese conselleyro in the oldest texts. Nascentes takes it as a semi-learned word, Aurélio as a popular…
conselho
It is inherited from Latin cōnsilium (“deliberation; council; advice”), written Old Galician-Portuguese consello and Old Galician-Portuguese conselho in the oldest texts. Nascentes considers it a…
consogro
It is inherited from Latin consocer (“co-father-in-law”), written Old Galician-Portuguese consogro in the oldest texts. The Latin noun is formed from con- and socer (“father-in-law”), and denoted…
constranger
It is inherited from Latin cōnstringō (“to bind together; to compel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese costrenger and Old Galician-Portuguese constrenger in the oldest texts. The DLP, the Porto…
contar
It is inherited from Latin computō (“to reckon, count up”), written Old Galician-Portuguese comtar and Old Galician-Portuguese contar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is a compound of con- and…
contente
It is borrowed from Latin contentus (“contained; content, satisfied”), the past participle of contineō (“to hold together, contain”), a compound of teneō (“to hold”). Corominas considers the word…