Portuguese words from Latin
2023 Portuguese words with Latin in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages (page 8).
conter
It is inherited from Latin contineō (“to hold together; to contain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese contẽer in the oldest texts. Nascentes derives the modern form through that old form, with the…
continuar
It is borrowed from Latin continuō (“to join together; to carry on without a break”), a learned word recorded from the 14th century. The Latin verb is formed from the adjective continuus…
conto
1. The word for the tale is inherited from Latin computus (“calculation, reckoning”), written Old Galician-Portuguese conto in the oldest texts. Houaiss explains that the Latin verb behind it, “to…
contra
It is inherited from Latin contrā (“opposite, against”), written Old Galician-Portuguese contra in the oldest texts. The Latin word is the ablative singular feminine of *komteros (“the other of two…
contrário
It is borrowed from Latin contrārius (“opposite, hostile”), from contrā (“against”) with the suffix -ārius. Nascentes takes it as learned, passing through the form Old Galician-Portuguese contrairo…
contrato
It is borrowed from Latin contractus (“agreement, bargain”), the noun formed on the participle of contrahō (“to draw together; to conclude a bargain”). Nascentes calls it semi-learned, and the…
convencer
It is inherited from Latin convincō (“to overcome; to prove guilty”), recorded from 1369 as Old Galician-Portuguese conuencer. Nascentes calls it a semi-learned word. The Latin verb is formed from…
convento
It is borrowed from Latin conventus (“assembly, gathering”), a learned word. Wiktionary treats it as inherited, through Old Galician-Portuguese convento. The Latin noun is formed from conveniō (“to…
conversar
It is borrowed from Latin conversor (“to associate with, live among”), a learned word. Houaiss takes it from the deponent verb, “to meet habitually in one place, frequent, live with”, while…
convidar
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *convītō (“to invite”), written Old Galician-Portuguese convidar in the oldest texts. Houaiss explains the Vulgar Latin verb as Latin invītō (“to invite, to ask to…
convir
It is inherited from Latin conveniō (“to come together, meet; to agree”), written Old Galician-Portuguese convĩir in the oldest texts. Nascentes traces the meaning from “to come to the same place…
cópia
It is borrowed from Latin cōpia (“abundance, means”), a learned word of the 14th century. Houaiss takes the sense “reproduction” from French copie, recorded in 1270 for a written copy. Nascentes…
coração
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *corātiō, a lengthened form of Latin cor (“heart”), written Old Galician-Portuguese coraçon in the oldest texts. Houaiss calls the origin controversial and the…
corda
It is inherited from Latin chorda (“gut; string of a musical instrument; rope”), from Ancient Greek χορδή (khordḗ, “guts, tripe; string of gut”). Latin took the word first as a technical term for…
cornudo
It is inherited from Latin cornūtus (“horned”). The Latin adjective is formed from cornū (“horn”) with an adjective suffix. The same Latin word is Spanish cornudo, Catalan cornut, French cornu…
coroa
It is inherited from Latin corōna (“wreath, garland, crown”), written Old Galician-Portuguese corõa in the oldest texts. The Latin -n- between vowels was lost, leaving the nasal vowel of the old…
coroar
It is inherited from Latin corōnō (“to crown, wreathe”), written Old Galician-Portuguese corõar in the oldest texts. The spelling without the tilde appears in the 14th century. The same Latin verb…
corpo
It is inherited from Latin corpus (“body”), written Old Galician-Portuguese corpo in the oldest texts. The Latin word was a neuter of the third declension. Nascentes explains that its nominative and…
correia
It is inherited from Latin corrigia (“shoelace; thong”), written Old Galician-Portuguese correa in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician correa, Spanish correa, French courroie and…
corrente
It is inherited from Latin currēns (“running”), the present participle of currō (“to run”), written Old Galician-Portuguese corrente in the oldest texts. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. Aurélio and…
correr
It is inherited from Latin currō (“to run”), written Old Galician-Portuguese correr in the oldest texts. The same Latin verb is Galician correr, Spanish correr, Catalan córrer, French courir…
cortar
It is inherited from Latin curtō (“to shorten, cut short”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cortar in the oldest texts. The Latin verb is formed from the adjective curtus (“short; mutilated”), and…
cortina
It is inherited from Late Latin cortīna (“curtain”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cortynna, Old Galician-Portuguese cortina and Old Galician-Portuguese cortinha in the medieval texts. The Late…
corvo
It is inherited from Latin corvus (“raven”), written Old Galician-Portuguese corvo in the cantigas. Nunes counts it among the words whose short Latin ŏ became a closed /o/ before a final -o, where…
coser
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōsēre, a popular form of Latin cōnsuō (“to sew together”), and was written Old Galician-Portuguese coser in the oldest texts. The DHLF explains the Vulgar Latin…
costa
It is inherited from Latin costa (“rib, side, flank”), written Old Galician-Portuguese costa in the oldest texts. In later and Medieval Latin the word came to mean “edge” or “coast”. Nascentes…
costume
1. The word for a custom or habit is inherited from Vulgar Latin *consuetumen (“custom”), an alteration of Latin cōnsuētūdō (“custom, habit, usage”) in which the suffix was replaced, through a form…
costura
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōnsūtūra (“seam, sewing”), a noun not recorded in Latin texts and formed on cōnsūtus, the past participle of cōnsuō (“to sew together”). The verb is made of con-…
couraça
It is inherited from Late Latin coriācea (understood with vestis (“garment”)), the feminine of coriāceus (“of leather”), from Latin corium (“skin, hide”). The first cuirasses were of leather, and…
couro
It is inherited from Latin corium (“skin, hide”), written Old Galician-Portuguese coiro in the oldest texts. Wiktionary explains the old form by metathesis of the Latin ending, and the present form…
couve
It is inherited from Latin caulis (“stalk, stem; cabbage”), which is from Ancient Greek καυλός (kaulós, “stem, stalk”). Nascentes traces the Portuguese form through *coule and *coue, with the…
cova
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *cova (“hollow (feminine)”), written Old Galician-Portuguese coua in 1128, Houaiss's earliest record, and Old Galician-Portuguese cova from the 13th century. The…
covo
1. The word for “concave” is inherited from Latin covus (“hollow”), an archaic variant of cavus (“hollow, concave”). Nascentes notes that the Latin variant is cited by Paulus Festus, and Michaelis…
coxa
It is inherited from Latin coxa (“hip”), written Old Galician-Portuguese coixa and Old Galician-Portuguese coyxa in medieval texts. The Latin word meant the hip of a person or the haunch of an…
cozer
It is inherited from Late Latin coco (“to cook, boil”), the popular form of classical Latin coquo, written Old Galician-Portuguese cozer in the oldest texts. Corominas explains the popular form by…
cozinha
It is inherited from Late Latin cocīna (“kitchen”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cozynna in the 13th century. The Late Latin form replaced the classical Latin coquīna (“the art of cooking…
cozinhar
It is inherited from Late Latin cocīnō (“to cook”), a later form of Latin coquīnō (“to cook”); Wiktionary gives the medieval spelling as Old Galician-Portuguese cozinnar. Silva Bastos, Vieira…
crédito
It is borrowed from Latin crēditum (“a loan; something entrusted”), with the senses “belief, trust”, first recorded in the 15th century. Cunha, Nascentes and Aurélio add that in the commercial sense…
credo
It is borrowed from Latin crēdō (“I believe”), the first person singular present of the Latin verb, the first word of the Creed (⟨Credo in unum Deum⟩ “I believe in one God”), which became the name…
crença
It is inherited from Medieval Latin crēdentia (“belief, faith”), written Old Galician-Portuguese creença in the oldest texts. Houaiss, Cunha and Nascentes call the Latin word medieval, Wiktionary…
crer
It is inherited from Latin crēdō (“to believe, to trust”), written Old Galician-Portuguese creer in the oldest texts. Houaiss derives it through a Vulgar Latin infinitive stressed on its second…
crescer
It is inherited from Latin crēscō (“to come into being; to grow”), written Old Galician-Portuguese crecer in the oldest texts. Nascentes explains the modern form as the old form remade on the Latin…
crespo
It is inherited from Latin crispus (“curly, curled”). Cunha dates the word to the 13th century. The same Latin word is Galician crespo, Spanish crespo, Catalan cresp, Old French cresp and Italian…
criação
It is inherited from Latin creātiō (“begetting; creation”), written Old Galician-Portuguese criaçon in the oldest texts. Nascentes considers it semi-learned, and Wiktionary notes that it can also be…
criar
It is inherited from Latin creō (“to bring forth, beget; to make grow”), written Old Galician-Portuguese criar in the oldest texts. The forms stressed on the stem were always said with /i/ (crio…
criatura
It is inherited from Latin creātūra (“a created thing, creature”), written Old Galician-Portuguese creatura and Old Galician-Portuguese criatura in the oldest texts. Nascentes says the word came…
criminal
It is borrowed from Latin criminālis (“relating to a crime or a trial”), a learned word. The Latin adjective is formed from crīmen (“charge, accusation; crime”) with the suffix -ālis. Wiktionary…
crina
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *crina, from crīnis (“hair of the head, tress”). Houaiss and Cunha derive it from the Latin noun, and Houaiss's first record, from 1548, is in the plural. The Latin…
crista
It is inherited from Latin crista (“crest, comb”), written Old Galician-Portuguese crista and Old Galician-Portuguese cresta in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician crista, Spanish…
cristão
It is inherited from Latin Chrīstiānus (“Christian”), in a semi-learned form: Nascentes explains it as the Latin adjective refashioned through the archaic forms Old Galician-Portuguese crischão and…
crivar
It is inherited from Latin cribrō (“to sift”), written Old Galician-Portuguese criuar in the oldest texts. Wiktionary, Aurélio and Michaelis derive it from the dissimilated form *cribō, with the…
crivo
It is inherited from Vulgar Latin cribum (“sieve”), a form of Latin cribrum with the second /r/ lost by dissimilation. Houaiss and Cunha give the classical form as the etymon. Corominas notes that…
crosta
It is inherited from Latin crusta (“crust, hard coating, shell”). Beside it Portuguese has a learned doublet with the Latin spelling, which Houaiss dates to 1574–1590 and calls a learned divergent…
cru
It is inherited from Latin crūdus (“bloody; raw; rough, cruel”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cruu in the oldest texts. The same Latin adjective is Galician cru, Spanish crudo, Catalan cru…
cruel
It is inherited from Latin crūdēlis (“cruel, merciless”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cruel in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician cruel, Spanish cruel, Catalan cruel, French cruel…
crueldade
It is inherited from Latin crūdēlitās (“cruelty”), written Old Galician-Portuguese crueldade in the oldest texts. Nascentes calls it semi-learned. The same Latin word gave Galician crueldade…
cruz
It is inherited from Latin crux (“cross, gallows; torment”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cruz in the oldest texts. It is a semi-learned word: in a popular development the short /u/ of the Latin…
cruzar
It is formed from Portuguese cruz + -ar. Houaiss dates it to the 13th century in the sense “to go on crusade”, Cunha to the 12th; both date “to travel across” to the 17th. Nascentes notes that Saint…
cu
It is inherited from Latin cūlus (“the rump, anus”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cuu in the oldest texts. The same Latin word is Galician cu, Spanish culo, Catalan cul, Occitan cul, French cul…
cuidar
It is inherited from Latin cōgitō (“to think, consider”), written Old Galician-Portuguese cuidar and Old Galician-Portuguese coidar in the oldest texts. The Latin /g/ was lost and the diphthong ⟨oi⟩…