Brazilian Portuguese (; ; also known as pt-BR) is the set of

varieties Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

Portuguese language Portuguese ( or ) is a Western Romance language of the Indo-European language family originating from the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. It is the official language of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal and São Tom� ...

native to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. It is spoken by almost all of the 203 million inhabitants of Brazil and widely across the

Brazilian diaspora The Brazilian diaspora is the migration of Brazilian people, Brazilians to other countries, a mostly recent phenomenon that has been driven mainly by economic recession and hyperinflation that afflicted Brazil in the 1980s and early 1990s, and si ...

, today consisting of about two million Brazilians who have emigrated to other countries. With a population of over 203 million, Brazil is by far the world's largest Portuguese-speaking nation and the only one in the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

where Portuguese, of which Brazilian Portuguese is a variety, is the official language under Article 13 of the Constitution. The

Academia Brasileira de Letras The Academia Brasileira de Letras (ABL; English: ''Brazilian Academy of Letters'') is a Brazilian literature, literary non-profit society established at the end of the 19th century. The first president, Machado de Assis, declared its foundation ...

(ABL) plays a significant cultural role in its development but has no legal regulatory authority over the language, which is shaped primarily by usage and educational norms in Brazil. Brazilian Portuguese differs notably from

European Portuguese European Portuguese (, ), also known as Lusitanian Portuguese () or as the Portuguese (language) of Portugal (), refers to the dialects of the Portuguese language spoken in Portugal. The word "European" was chosen to avoid the clash of "Portugues ...

in phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar, though it remains a variety of Portuguese within the Romance language family. Brazilian Portuguese differs, particularly in phonology and prosody, from varieties spoken in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and

Portuguese-speaking African countries The Portuguese-speaking African countries (; PALOP), also known as Lusophone Africa, consist of six African countries in which the Portuguese language is an official language: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Prínci ...

. In these latter countries, the language tends to have a closer connection to contemporary European Portuguese, partly because Portuguese colonial rule ended much more recently there than in Brazil, and partly due to the heavy indigenous and diasporic African influence on Brazilian Portuguese. Despite this difference between the spoken varieties, Brazilian and European Portuguese barely differ in formal writing and remain

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between different but related language varieties in which speakers of the different varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. Mutual intellig ...

. However, due to the two reasons mentioned above, the gap between the written, formal language and the spoken language is much wider in Brazilian Portuguese than in European Portuguese. In 1990, the

Community of Portuguese Language Countries The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (; : CPLP), also known as the Lusophone Commonwealth or Lusophone Community (), is an international organization and political association of Lusophone nations across four continents, where Portug ...

(CPLP), which included representatives from all countries with Portuguese as the official language, reached an agreement on the reform of the Portuguese orthography to unify the two standards then in use by Brazil on one side and the remaining Portuguese-speaking countries on the other. This spelling reform went into effect in Brazil on 1 January 2009. In Portugal, the reform was signed into law by the President on 21 July 2008 allowing for a six-year adaptation period, during which both orthographies co-existed. All of the CPLP countries have signed the reform. In Brazil, this reform has been in force since January 2016. Portugal and other Portuguese-speaking countries have since begun using the new orthography. Regional varieties of Brazilian Portuguese, while remaining

, may diverge from each other in matters such as vowel pronunciation and speech intonation.

History

Portuguese language in Brazil

The existence of Portuguese in Brazil is a legacy of the

Portuguese colonization of the Americas Portuguese colonization of the Americas () constituted territories in the Americas belonging to the Kingdom of Portugal. Portugal was the leading country in the European exploration of the world in the 15th century. The Treaty of Tordesillas in ...

. The first wave of Portuguese-speaking immigrants settled in Brazil in the 16th century, but the language was not widely used then. For a time Portuguese coexisted with

Língua Geral The term General Language () refers to lingua francas that emerged in South America during the 16th and 17th centuries,Rodrigues, Aryon (1996)"As línguas gerais sul-americanas"/ref> the two most prominent being the Paulista General Language, whi ...

, a

lingua franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

based on

Amerindian languages The Indigenous languages of the Americas are the languages that were used by the Indigenous peoples of the Americas before the arrival of non-Indigenous peoples. Over a thousand of these languages are still used today, while many more are now e ...

that was used by the

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

missionaries, as well as with various

African languages The number of languages natively spoken in Africa is variously estimated (depending on the delineation of language vs. dialect) at between 1,250 and 2,100, and by some counts at over 3,000. Nigeria alone has over 500 languages (according to SI ...

spoken by the millions of slaves brought into the country between the 16th and 19th centuries. By the end of the 18th century, Portuguese had affirmed itself as the national language. Some of the main contributions to that swift change were the expansion of

colonization 475px, Map of the year each country achieved List of sovereign states by date of formation, independence. Colonization (British English: colonisation) is a process of establishing occupation of or control over foreign territories or peoples f ...

to the Brazilian interior, and the growing numbers of Portuguese settlers, who brought their language and became the most important ethnic group in

. Beginning in the early 18th century,

's government made efforts to expand the use of Portuguese throughout the colony, particularly because its consolidation in Brazil would help guarantee to Portugal the lands in dispute with

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

(according to various treaties signed in the 18th century, those lands would be ceded to the people who effectively occupied them). Under the administration of the

Marquis of Pombal A marquess (; ) is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German-language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman with the rank of a marquess or the wife (or widow) ...

(1750–1777), Brazilians started to favour the use of Portuguese, as the Marquis expelled the Jesuit missionaries (who had taught

) and prohibited the use of Nhengatu, or

Lingua Franca A lingua franca (; ; for plurals see ), also known as a bridge language, common language, trade language, auxiliary language, link language or language of wider communication (LWC), is a Natural language, language systematically used to make co ...

. The failed colonization attempts, by the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

during the 16th century and the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

during the 17th century, had negligible effects on Portuguese. The substantial waves of non-Portuguese-speaking immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries (mostly from

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

) were linguistically integrated into the Portuguese-speaking majority within a few generations, except for some areas of the three southernmost states (

Paraná Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to: Geology * Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America Places In Argentina *Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city * Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province In Brazil *Paraná (state), a state ...

, Santa Catarina, and

Rio Grande do Sul Rio Grande do Sul (, ; ; "Great River of the South") is a Federative units of Brazil, state in the South Region, Brazil, southern region of Brazil. It is the Federative units of Brazil#List, fifth-most populous state and the List of Brazilian s ...

), in the case of Germans, Italians and Slavics, and in rural areas of the state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

(Italians and Japanese). Nowadays the overwhelming majority of Brazilians speak Portuguese as their mother tongue, with the exception of small, insular communities of descendants of European (German, Polish, Ukrainian, and Italian) and Japanese immigrants, mostly in the South and Southeast as well as villages and reservations inhabited by

Amerindians In the Americas, Indigenous peoples comprise the two continents' pre-Columbian inhabitants, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with them in the 15th century, as well as the ethnic groups that identify with the pre-Columbian population of ...

. And even these populations make use of Portuguese to communicate with outsiders and to understand television and radio broadcasts, for example. Moreover, there is a community of

Brazilian Sign Language Brazilian Sign Language ( ) is the sign language used by deaf communities of Brazil. It is commonly known in short as Libras (). Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) is a well-established language and legally recognized.Ethnologue ''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...

'' to be as high as 3 million.

Loanwords

The development of Portuguese in Brazil (and consequently in the rest of the areas where Portuguese is spoken) has been influenced by other languages with which it has come into contact, mainly in the lexicon: first the

of the original inhabitants, then the various

spoken by the slaves, and finally those of later European and Asian immigrants. Although the vocabulary is still predominantly Portuguese, the influence of other languages is evident in the Brazilian lexicon, which today includes, for example, hundreds of words of Tupi–Guarani origin referring to local flora and fauna; numerous

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n Yoruba words related to foods, religious concepts, and musical expressions; and English terms from the fields of modern technology and commerce. Although some of these words are more predominant in Brazil, they are also used in Portugal and other countries where Portuguese is spoken. Words derived from the

Tupi language Old Tupi, Ancient Tupi or Classical Tupi () is a classical Tupian language which was spoken by the indigenous Tupi people of Brazil, mostly those who inhabited coastal regions in South and Southeast Brazil. In the words of Brazilian tupinol ...

are particularly prevalent in place names (''

Caruaru Caruaru is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the States of Brazil, state of Pernambuco. The most populous city in the interior of the state, Caruaru is located in the microzone of Agreste and because of its cultural importance ...

'', '' Guanabara'', ''

Ipanema Ipanema () is a neighbourhood located in the South Zone (Rio de Janeiro), South Zone of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between Leblon, Rio de Janeiro, Leblon and Arpoador. The beach at Ipanema became known internationally with the populari ...

'', ''

Itaquaquecetuba Itaquaquecetuba, also simply called Itaquá, is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. It is part of the Metropolitan Region of São Paulo. The population is 375,011 (2020 est.) in an area of . It sits at an elevation of . The munici ...

'', ''

Paraíba Paraíba ( , ; ) is a states of Brazil, state of Brazil. It is located in the Brazilian Northeast, and it is bordered by Rio Grande do Norte to the north, Ceará to the west, Pernambuco to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Paraíba i ...

'', ''

Pindamonhangaba Pindamonhangaba is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Federative units of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil, located in the Paraíba Valley, between the two most active production and consumption regions in the co ...

''). The native languages also contributed the names of most of the plants and animals found in Brazil (and most of these are the official names of the animals in other Portuguese-speaking countries as well), including ''arara'' ("

macaw Macaws are a group of Neotropical parrot, New World parrots that are long-tailed and often colorful, in the Tribe (biology), tribe Arini (tribe), Arini. They are popular in aviculture or as companion parrots, although there are conservation con ...

"), ''jacaré'' ("South American

caiman A caiman ( (also spelled cayman) from Taíno language, Taíno ''kaiman'') is an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within the Alligatoridae family (biology), family, the other being alligators. ...

"), ''tucano'' ("

toucan Toucans (, ) are Neotropical birds in the family Ramphastidae. They are most closely related to the Semnornis, Toucan barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful Beak, bills. The family includes five genus, genera and over ...

"), ''mandioca'' ("

cassava ''Manihot esculenta'', common name, commonly called cassava, manioc, or yuca (among numerous regional names), is a woody shrub of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, native to South America, from Brazil, Paraguay and parts of the Andes. Although ...

"), ''abacaxi'' ("

pineapple The pineapple (''Ananas comosus'') is a Tropical vegetation, tropical plant with an edible fruit; it is the most economically significant plant in the family Bromeliaceae. The pineapple is indigenous to South America, where it has been culti ...

"), and many more. However, many Tupi–Guarani

toponyms Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage, and types. ''Toponym'' is the general term for a proper nam ...

did not derive directly from Amerindian expressions, but were in fact coined by European settlers and

Jesuit missionaries The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 ...

, who used the ''

'' extensively in the first centuries of colonization. Many of the Amerindian words entered the Portuguese lexicon as early as in the 16th century, and some of them were eventually borrowed into other European languages.

provided hundreds of words as well, especially in certain semantic domains, as in the following examples, which are also present in Portuguese: * Food: ''quitute'', ''

quindim Quindim () is a popular Brazilian baked dessert with Portuguese heritage, made chiefly from sugar, egg yolks and ground coconut. It is a custard and usually presented as an upturned cup with a glistening surface and intensely yellow color. The m ...

'', ''

acarajé ''Akara'' (; , ) is a type of fritter made from cowpeas or beans (black-eyed peas) by the Yoruba people of Nigeria, Benin and Togo. It is also known as Bean cake. It is found throughout West African, Caribbean, and Brazilian cuisines. The dish is ...

'', ''

moqueca Moqueca ( or depending on the dialect, also spelled muqueca) is a Brazilian seafood stew. Moqueca is typically made with shrimp or fish in a base of tomatoes, onions, garlic, lime, coriander, palm oil and coconut milk. The dish and its countle ...

''; * Religious concepts: ''mandinga'', ''

macumba ''Macumba'' () is a generic term for various Afro-Brazilian religions, the practitioners of which are then called ''macumbeiros''. These terms are generally regarded as having negative connotations, comparable to an English term like "black magi ...

'', ''orixá'' ("

orisha Orishas (singular: orisha) are divine spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa and several religions of the African diaspora that derive from it, such as Haitian Vaudou, Cuban Santería and Brazilian Candomblé. The p ...

"), ''axé''; * Afro-Brazilian music: ''

samba Samba () is a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Brazilian music genres that originated in the Afro-Brazilians, Afro Brazilian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century, It is a name or ...

'', ''lundu'', ''maxixe'', ''

berimbau The berimbau (, borrowed from Kimbundu ''mbirimbau'') is a traditional Angolan musical bow that is commonly used in Brazil. It is also known as ''sekitulege'' among the Baganda and Busoga. It consists of a single-stringed bow attached to a gourd ...

''; * Body-related parts and conditions: ''banguela'' ("toothless"), ''bunda'' ("buttocks"), ''capenga'' ("lame"), ''caxumba'' ("mumps"); * Geographical features: ''cacimba'' ("well"), ''

quilombo A ''quilombo'' (); from the Kimbundu word , ) is a Brazilian hinterland town, settlement founded by people of Afro-Brazilians, African origin, and others sometimes called Carabali. Most of the inhabitants of quilombos, called quilombolas, were ...

'' or '' mocambo'' ("runaway slave settlement"), ''senzala'' ("slave quarters"); * Articles of clothing: ''miçanga'' ("beads"), ''abadá'' ("

capoeira Capoeira () is an Afro-Brazilian martial art and game that includes elements of dance, acrobatics, capoeira music, music, and spirituality. It likely originated from enslaved Mbundu people, of the Kingdom of Ndongo, in present-day Angola. The ...

or dance uniform"), ''tanga'' ("loincloth, thong"); * Miscellaneous household concepts: ''cafuné'' ("caress on the head"), ''curinga'' (" joker card"), ''caçula'' ("youngest child," also ''cadete'' and ''filho mais novo''), and ''moleque'' ("brat, spoiled child," or simply "child," depending on the region). Although the African slaves had various ethnic origins, by far most of the borrowings were contributed (1) by

Bantu languages The Bantu languages (English: , Proto-Bantu language, Proto-Bantu: *bantʊ̀), or Ntu languages are a language family of about 600 languages of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern, East Africa, Eastern and Southeast Africa, South ...

(above all,

Kimbundu Kimbundu, a Bantu language which has sometimes been called Mbundu or North Mbundu (to distinguish it from Umbundu, sometimes called South Mbundu), is the second-most-widely-spoken Bantu language in Angola. Its speakers are concentrated in the n ...

, from

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, and

Kikongo Kongo or Kikongo is one of the Bantu languages spoken by the Kongo people living in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Angola. It is a tonal language. The vast majority of present-day speakers li ...

from Angola and the area that is now the

Republic of the Congo The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo), is a country located on the western coast of Central ...

and the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

), and (2) by Niger-Congo languages, notably Yoruba/Nagô, from what is now

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, and Jeje/ Ewe, from what is now

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

. There are also many loanwords from other European languages, including

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

, and

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

. In addition, there is a limited set of vocabulary from

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

. Portuguese has borrowed a large number of words from English. In Brazil, these are especially related to the following fields (note that some of these words are used in other Portuguese-speaking countries): * Technology and science: ''app'', ''mod'', ''layout'', ''briefing'', ''designer'', ''slideshow'', ''

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

'', ''forward'', ''revolver'', ''relay'', ''home office'', ''home theater'', ''bonde'' ("streetcar, tram," from 1860s company bonds), ''chulipa'' (also ''dormente'', "sleeper"), ''bita'' ("beater," railway settlement tool), ''breque'' ("brake"), ''picape/pick-up'', ''hatch'', ''roadster'', ''SUV'', ''air-bag'', ''guincho'' ("winch"), ''tilburí'' (19th century), ''macadame'', ''workshop''; * Commerce and finance: ''commodities'', ''debênture'', ''holding'', ''fundo hedge'', ''angel'', ''truste'', ''dumping'', ''CEO'', ''CFO'', ''MBA'', ''kingsize'', ''fast food'' (), ''delivery service'', ''self service'', ''drive-thru'', ''telemarketing'', ''franchise'' (also ''franquia''), ''

merchandising Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of Product (business), products ("merch" colloquially) to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative w ...

'', ''combo'', ''check-in'', ''pet shop'', ''sex shop'', ''flat'', ''loft'', ''motel'', ''suíte'', ''shopping center/mall'', ''food truck'', ''outlet'', ''tagline'', ''slogan'', ''jingle'', ''outdoor'', "outboard" (), ''case'' (advertising), ''showroom''; * Sports: ''surf'', ''skating'', ''futebol'' ( "soccer", or the calque ''ludopédio''), ''voleibol'', ''wakeboard'', ''gol'' ("goal"), ''goleiro'', ''quíper'', ''chutar'', ''chuteira'', ''time'' ("team," ), ''turfe'', ''jockey club'', ''cockpit'', ''box'' (Formula 1), ''pódium'', ''pólo'', ''boxeador'', ''MMA'', ''UFC'', ''rugby'', ''match point'', ''nocaute'' ("knockout"), ''poker'', ''iate club'', ''handicap''; * Miscellaneous cultural concepts: ''okay'', ''

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

'', ''hobby'', ''vintage'', ''jam session'', ''junk food'', ''hot dog'', ''bife'' or ''bisteca'' ("steak"), ''rosbife'' ("roast beef"), ''sundae'', ''banana split'', ''milkshake'', (protein) ''shake'', ''araruta'' ("arrowroot"), ''panqueca'', ''cupcake'', ''brownie'', ''sanduíche'', ''X-burguer'', ''boicote'' ("boycott"), ''pet'', ''Yankee'', ''happy hour'', ''

lol LOL, or lol, is an initialism for laughing out loud, and a popular element of Internet slang, which can be used to indicate amusement, irony, or double meanings. It was first used almost exclusively on Usenet, but has since become widesprea ...

'', ''nerd'' , ''geek'' (sometimes , but also ), ''noob'', ''punk'', ''skinhead'' (), ''

emo Emo () is a genre of rock music characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of hardcore punk and from the Washington, D.C., hardcore scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore. The bands ...

'' (), ''indie'' (), ''hooligan'', ''cool'', ''vibe'', ''hype'', ''rocker'', ''glam'', ''rave'', ''clubber'', ''cyber'', ''hippie'', ''yuppie'', ''hipster'', ''overdose'', ''junkie'', ''cowboy'', ''mullet'', ''country'', ''rockabilly'', ''pin-up'', ''socialite'', ''playboy'', ''

sex appeal Sexual attraction is attraction on the basis of sexual desire or the quality of arousing such interest. Sexual attractiveness or sex appeal is an individual's ability to attract other people sexually, and is a factor in sexual selection or m ...

'', ''

striptease A striptease is an erotic or exotic dance in which the performer gradually undresses, either partly or completely, in a seductive and sexually suggestive manner. The person who performs a striptease is commonly known as a "stripper", "exotic d ...

'', ''after hours'', ''drag queen'', ''go-go boy'', ''

queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are non-heterosexual or non- cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against LGBTQ people in the late 19th century. From the late 1980s, queer activists began to ...

'' (as in "queer lit"), ''bear'' (also the calque ''urso''), ''twink'' (also ''efebo''/

ephebe ''Ephebos'' (; pl. ''epheboi'', ), latinized as ephebus (pl. ephebi) and anglicised as ephebe (pl. ephebes), is a term for a male adolescent in Ancient Greece. The term was particularly used to denote one who was doing military training and pr ...

), ''leather (dad)'', ''footing'' (19th century), ''piquenique'' (also ''convescote''), ''bro'', ''rapper'', ''mc'', ''beatbox'', ''break dance'', ''street dance'', ''free style'', ''hang loose'', ''soul'', ''gospel'', ''praise'' (commercial context, music industry), ''bullying'' , ''stalking'' , ''closet'', ''flashback'', ''check-up'', ''ranking'', ''bondage'', ''dark'', ''goth'' (''gótica''), ''vamp'', ''cueca boxer'' or ''cueca slip'' (male underwear), ''black tie'' (or ''traje de gala/cerimônia noturna''), ''smoking'' ("tuxedo"), ''quepe'', ''blazer'', ''jeans'', ''cardigã'', ''blush'', ''make-up artist'', ''hair stylist'', ''gloss labial'' (hybrid, also ''brilho labial''), ''pancake'' ("facial powder," also ''pó de arroz''), ''playground'', ''blecaute'' ("blackout"), ''script'', ''sex symbol'', ''bombshell'', ''blockbuster'', ''multiplex'', ''best-seller'', ''it-girl'', ''fail'' (web context), ''trolling'' (''trollar''), ''blogueiro'', ''photobombing'', ''selfie'', ''sitcom'', ''stand-up comedy'', ''non-sense'', ''non-stop'', ''

gamer A gamer is someone who plays interactive games, either video games, tabletop role-playing games, skill-based card games, or any combination thereof, and who often plays for extended periods of time. Originally a hobby, gaming has evolved in ...

'', '' camper'', ''crooner'', ''backing vocal'', ''roadie'', ''playback'', ''overdrive'', ''food truck'', ''monster truck'', ''picape/pick-up'' (DJ), ''coquetel'' ("cocktail"), ''drinque'', ''pub'', ''bartender'', ''barman'', ''lanche'' ("portable lunch"), ''underground'' (cultural), ''flop'' (movie/TV context and slang), ''DJ'', ''VJ'', ''

haole ''Haole'' (; ) is a Hawaiian term for individuals who are not Native Hawaiian, and is applied to people primarily of European ancestry. Background The origins of the word predate the 1778 arrival of Captain James Cook, as recorded in several ...

'' (slang, brought from Hawaii by surfers). Many of these words are used throughout the

Lusosphere The Portuguese-speaking world, also known as the Lusophone world () or the Lusophony (''Lusofonia''), comprises the countries and territories in which the Portuguese language is an official, administrative, cultural, or secondary language. This ...

. French has contributed to Portuguese words for foods, furniture, and luxurious fabrics, as well as for various abstract concepts. Examples include ''hors-concours'', ''chic'', ''metrô'', ''batom'', ''soutien'', ''buquê'', ''abajur'', ''guichê'', ''içar'', ''chalé'', ''cavanhaque'' (from

Louis-Eugène Cavaignac Louis-Eugène Cavaignac (; 15 October 1802 – 28 October 1857) was a French general and politician who served as head of the executive power of France between June and December 1848, during the French Second Republic. Born in Paris to a promi ...

), ''calibre'', ''habitué'', ''clichê'', ''jargão'', ''manchete'', ''jaqueta'', ''boîte de nuit'' or ''boate'', ''cofre'', ''rouge'', ''frufru'', ''chuchu'', ''purê'', ''petit gâteau'', ''pot-pourri'', ''ménage'', ''enfant gâté'', ''enfant terrible'', ''garçonnière'', ''patati-patata'', ''parvenu'', ''détraqué'', ''enquête'', ''equipe'', ''malha'', ''fila'', ''burocracia'', ''birô'', ''affair'', ''grife'', ''gafe'', ''croquette'', ''crocante'', ''croquis'', ''femme fatale'', ''noir'', ''marchand'', ''paletó'', ''gabinete'', ''grã-fino'', ''blasé'', ''de bom tom'', ''bon-vivant'', ''guindaste'', ''guiar'', ''flanar'', ''bonbonnière'', ''calembour'', ''jeu de mots'', ''vis-à-vis'', ''tête-à-tête'', ''mecha'', ''blusa'', ''conhaque'', ''mélange'', ''bric-brac'', ''broche'', ''pâtisserie'', ''peignoir'', ''négliglé'', ''robe de chambre'', ''déshabillé'', ''lingerie'', ''corset'', ''corselet'', ''corpete'', ''pantufas'', ''salopette'', ''cachecol'', ''cachenez'', ''cachepot'', ''colete'', ''colher'', ''prato'', ''costume'', ''serviette'', ''garde-nappe'', ''avant-première'', ''avant-garde'', ''debut'', ''crepe'', ''frappé'' (including slang), ''canapé'', ''paetê'', ''tutu'', ''mignon'', ''pince-nez'', ''grand prix'', ''parlamento'', ''patim'', ''camuflagem'', ''blindar'' (from German), ''guilhotina'', ''à gogo'', ''pastel'', ''filé'', ''silhueta'', ''menu'', ''maître d'hôtel'', ''bistrô'', ''chef'', ''coq au vin'', ''rôtisserie'', ''maiô'', ''bustiê'', ''collant'', ''fuseau'', ''cigarette'', ''crochê'', ''tricô'', ''tricot'' ("pullover, sweater"), ''calção'', ''culotte'', ''botina'', ''bota'', ''galocha'', ''scarpin'' (ultimately Italian), ''sorvete'', ''glacê'', ''boutique'', ''vitrine'', ''manequim'' (ultimately Dutch), ''machê'', ''tailleur'', ''echarpe'', ''fraque'', ''laquê'', ''gravata'', ''chapéu'', ''boné'', ''edredom'', ''gabardine'', ''fondue'', ''buffet'', ''toalete'', ''pantalon'', ''calça Saint-Tropez'', ''manicure'', ''pedicure'', ''balayage'', ''limusine'', ''caminhão'', ''guidão'', ''cabriolê'', ''capilé'', ''garfo'', ''nicho'', ''garçonete'', ''chenille'', ''chiffon'', ''chemise'', ''chamois'', ''plissê'', ''balonê'', ''frisê'', ''chaminé'', ''guilhochê'', ''château'', ''bidê'', ''redingote'', ''chéri(e)'', ''flambado'', ''bufante'', ''pierrot'', ''torniquete'', ''molinete'', ''canivete'', ''guerra'' (Occitan), ''escamotear'', ''escroque'', ''flamboyant'', ''maquilagem'', ''visagismo'', ''topete'', ''coiffeur'', ''tênis'', ''cabine'', ''concièrge'', ''chauffeur'', ''hangar'', ''garagem'', ''haras'', ''calandragem'', ''cabaré'', ''coqueluche'', ''coquine'', ''coquette'' (''cocotinha''), ''galã'', ''bas-fond'' (used as slang), ''mascote'', ''estampa'', ''sabotagem'', ''RSVP'', ''rendez-vous'', ''chez...'', ''à la carte'', ''à la ...'', ''forró, forrobodó'' (from 19th-century ''faux-bourdon''). Brazilian Portuguese tends to adopt French suffixes as in ''aterrissagem'' (Fr. ''atterrissage'' "landing viation), differently from

(cf. Eur.Port. ''aterragem''). Brazilian Portuguese (BP) also tends to adopt culture-bound concepts from French. That is the difference between BP ''estação'' ("station") and EP ''gare'' ("train station," Portugal also uses ''estação''). BP ''trem'' is from English ''train'' (ultimately from French), while EP ''comboio'' is from Fr. ''convoi''. An evident example of the dichotomy between English and French influences can be noted in the use of the expressions ''know-how'', used in a technical context, and ''savoir-faire'' in a social context. Portugal uses the expression ''hora de ponta'', from French ''l'heure de pointe'', to refer to the "rush hour," while Brazil has ''horário de pico, horário de pique'' and ''hora do rush''. Both ''bilhar'', from French ''billiard'', and the phonetic adaptation ''sinuca'' are used interchangeably for "snooker." Contributions from

and

include terms for foods, music, the arts, and architecture. From German, besides

strudel Strudel ( , ) is a type of layered pastry with a filling that is usually sweet, but savoury fillings are also common. It became popular in the 18th century throughout the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburg Empire. Strudel is part of Austrian cuisine ...

pretzel A pretzel ( ; from or , ) is a type of baking, baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twi ...

bratwurst ''Bratwurst'' () is a type of German sausage made from pork or, less commonly, beef or veal. The name is derived from the Old High German , from , finely chopped meat, and , sausage, although in modern German it is often associated with the ver ...

kuchen Kuchen (), the German word for cake, is used in other languages as the name for several different types of savory or sweet desserts, pastries, and gateaux. Most Kuchen have eggs, flour and sugar as common ingredients while also, but not alwa ...

(also ''bolo cuca''),

sauerkraut Sauerkraut (; , ) is finely cut raw cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria. It has a long shelf life and a distinctive sour flavor, both of which result from the lactic acid formed when the bacteria ferment the sugar ...

(also spelled ''chucrute'' from French ''choucroute'' and pronounced ),

wurstsalat Wurstsalat (, literally ''sausage salad'') is a tart sausage salad prepared with distilled white vinegar, Cooking oil, oil and onions. A variation of the recipe adds strips of pickled Pickled cucumber, gherkin. It is generally made from boiled sa ...

sauerbraten Sauerbraten () is a traditional German roast of heavily marinated meat. It is regarded as a national dish of Cuisine of Germany, Germany, and is frequently served in German-style restaurants internationally. It can be cooked from a variety of me ...

Oktoberfest Oktoberfest (; ) is the world's largest , featuring a beer festival and a travelling carnival, and is held annually in Munich, Bavaria, from mid- or late-September to the first Sunday in October. The annual event attracts more than seven milli ...

biergarten A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees. Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...

, ''zelt'', Osterbaum, Bauernfest,

Schützenfest A Schützenfest (, '' marksmen's festival'') is a traditional festival or fair featuring a target shooting competition in the cultures of Switzerland, Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. At a Schützenfest, contestants compete based on thei ...

, ''hinterland'', ''Kindergarten'', ''bock'', ''fassbier'' and ''chope'' (from ''Schoppen''), there are also abstract terms from German such as ''Prost'', ''zum wohl'', ''doppelgänger'' (also ''sósia''), ''über'', ''brinde'', ''kitsch'', ''ersatz'', ''blitz'' ("police action"), and possibly ''encrenca'' ("difficult situation," perhaps from Ger. ''ein Kranker'', "a sick person"). ''Xumbergar'', ''brega'' (from marshal Friedrich Hermann Von Schönberg), and ''xote'' (musical style and dance) from ''schottisch''. A significant number of beer brands in Brazil are named after German culture-bound concepts and place names because the brewing process was brought by German immigrants. Italian loan words and expressions, in addition to those that are related to food or music, include ''tchau'' (''"

ciao ( , ) is an informal salutation in the Italian language that is used for both " hello" and "goodbye". Originally from the Venetian language, it has entered the vocabulary of English and of many other languages around the world. Its dual mea ...

"''), ''nonna'', ''nonnino'', ''imbróglio'', ''bisonho'', ''entrevero'', '' panetone'', ''colomba'', ''è vero'', ''cicerone'', ''male male'', ''capisce'', ''mezzo'', ''va bene'', ''ecco'', ''ecco fatto'', ''ecco qui'', ''caspita'', ''schifoso'', ''gelateria'', ''cavolo'', ''incavolarsi'', ''pivete'', ''engambelar'', ''andiamo via'', ''

tiramisu Tiramisu is an Italian dessert made of ladyfinger pastries () dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks, sugar, and mascarpone, and topped with cocoa powder. The recipe has been adapted into many varieties of cakes and ...

'', ''

tarantella Tarantella () is a group of various Southern Italy, southern Italian Italian folk dance, folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania, Sicilia, and Apulia. It is characterized by a fast Beat (music), upbeat tempo, usually in Ti ...

'', ''

grappa Grappa is an alcoholic beverage: a fragrant, grape-based pomace brandy of Italian origin that contains 35 to 60 percent alcohol by volume (70 to 120 Alcohol proof, US proof). Grappa is a protected name in the European Union. Grappa is made by ...

'', ''stratoria''. Terms of endearment of Italian origin include ''amore'', ''bambino/a'', ''ragazzo/a'', ''caro/a mio/a'', ''tesoro'', and ''bello/a''; also ''babo'', ''mamma'', ''baderna'' (from ''Marietta Baderna''), ''carcamano'', ''torcicolo'', ''casanova'', ''noccia'', ''noja'', ''che me ne frega'', ''io ti voglio tanto bene'', and ''ti voglio bene assai''. Fewer words have been borrowed from

. The latter borrowings are also mostly related to food and drink or culture-bound concepts, such as ''quimono'', from Japanese

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn Garment collars in hanfu#Youren (right lapel), left side wrapped over ri ...

, ''karaokê'', ''yakisoba'', ''temakeria'', ''sushi bar'', ''mangá'', ''biombo'' (from Portugal) (from ''byó bu sukurín'', "folding screen"), ''jó ken pô'' or ''jankenpon'' ("

rock-paper-scissors Rock, Paper, Scissors (also known by several other names and word orders) is an intransitive hand game, usually played between two people, in which each player simultaneously forms one of three shapes with an outstretched hand. These shapes a ...

," played with the Japanese words being said before the start), ''saquê'', ''sashimi'', ''tempurá'' (a lexical "loan repayment" from a Portuguese loanword in Japanese), ''hashi'', ''wasabi'', ''johrei'' (religious philosophy), ''nikkei'', ''gaijin'' ("non-Japanese"), ''

issei are Japanese immigrants to countries in North America and South America. The term is used mostly by ethnic Japanese. are born in Japan; their children born in the new country are (, "two", plus , "generation"); and their grandchildren are ...

'' ("Japanese immigrant"), as well as the different descending generations ''

nisei is a Japanese language, Japanese-language term used in countries in North America and South America to specify the nikkeijin, ethnically Japanese children born in the new country to Japanese-born immigrants, or . The , or Second generation imm ...

'', ''

sansei is a Japanese and North American English term used in parts of the world (mainly in South America and North America) to refer to the children of children born to ethnically Japanese emigrants (''Issei'') in a new country of residence, outside o ...

'', '' yonsei'', ''gossei'', ''rokussei'' and ''shichissei''. Other Japanese loanwords include racial terms, such as ''ainoko'' ("Eurasian") and '' hafu'' (from English ''half''); work-related, socioeconomic, historical, and ethnic terms limited to some spheres of society, including ''koseki'' ("genealogical research"), ''dekassegui'' ("

dekasegi Dekasegi (, , ) is a term that is used in Latin America to refer to people, primarily Japanese Brazilians and Japanese Peruvians, who have migrated to Japan, having taken advantage of Japanese citizenship or ''nisei visa'' and immigration laws to w ...

"), ''arubaito'', ''kaizen'', ''seiketsu'', ''karoshi'' ("death by work excess"), ''

burakumin The are a social grouping of Japanese people descended from members of the feudal class associated with , mainly those with occupations related to death such as executioners, gravediggers, slaughterhouse workers, butchers, and tanners. Bura ...

'', ''kamikaze'', ''seppuku'', ''harakiri'', ''jisatsu'', ''jigai'', and ''ainu''; martial arts terms such as ''karatê'', ''aikidô'', ''bushidô'', ''katana'', ''judô'', ''jiu-jítsu'', ''kyudô'', ''

nunchaku is a traditional East-Asian martial arts weapon consisting of two sticks (traditionally made of wood), connected to each other at their ends by a short metal chain or a rope. It is approximately (sticks) and (rope). A person who has pract ...

'', and ''sumô''; terms related to writing, such as ''kanji'', ''kana'', ''katakana'', ''hiragana'', and ''romaji''; and terms for art concepts such as ''kabuki'' and ''ikebana''. Other culture-bound terms from Japanese include ''ofurô'' ("Japanese bathtub"), ''Nihong'' ("target news niche and websites"), ''

kabocha Kabocha (; from Japanese language, Japanese , ) is a type of winter squash, a Japanese variety of the species ''Cucurbita maxima.'' It is also called kabocha squash or Japanese pumpkin in North America. In Japan, "''kabocha''" may refer to eithe ...

'' (type of pumpkin introduced in Japan by the Portuguese), ''

reiki Reiki is a pseudoscientific form of energy healing, a type of alternative medicine originating in Japan. Reiki practitioners use a technique called ''palm healing'' or ''hands-on healing'' through which, according to practitioners, a " unive ...

'', and ''

shiatsu ''Shiatsu'' ( ; ) is a form of Japanese Bodywork (alternative medicine), bodywork based on concepts in traditional Chinese medicine such as Meridian (Chinese medicine), qi meridians. Having been popularized in the twentieth century by Tokujiro N ...

''. Some words have popular usage while others are known for a specific context in specific circles. Terms used among

Nikkei Nikkei can refer to: *, abbreviated , Nikkei, a large media corporation in Japan *, abbreviated , Nikkei, a major business newspaper published in Japan *, a Japanese stock market index, published by ''Nihon Keizai Shimbun'' *Nikkei cuisine, a Japan ...

descendants include ''oba-chan'' ("grandma"); ''onee-san'', ''onee-chan'', ''onii-san'', and ''onii-chan''; toasts and salutations such as ''kampai'' and ''banzai''; and some

honorific An honorific is a title that conveys esteem, courtesy, or respect for position or rank when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term "honorific" is used in a more specific sense to refer to an Honorary title (academic), h ...

suffixes of address such as ''chan'', ''kun'', ''sama'', ''san'', and ''senpai''.

Chinese Chinese may refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people identified with China, through nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **Han Chinese, East Asian ethnic group native to China. **'' Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic ...

contributed a few terms such as '' tai chi chuan'' and ''chá'' ("tea"), also in European Portuguese. The loan vocabulary includes several

calques In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language whil ...

, such as ''arranha-céu'' ("skyscraper," from French ''gratte-ciel'') and ''cachorro-quente'' (from English ''hot dog'') in Portuguese worldwide.

Other influences

Use of the reflexive ''me'', especially in São Paulo and the South, is thought to be an Italianism, attributed to the large Italian immigrant population, as are certain prosodic features, including patterns of intonation and stress, also in the South and

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, Radius, radially arrayed compass directions (or Azimuth#In navigation, azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A ''compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, ...

. Other scholars, however, notably Naro & Scherre, have noted that the same or similar processes can be observed in the European variant, as well as in many varieties of Spanish, and that the main features of Brazilian Portuguese can be traced directly from 16th-century European Portuguese. In fact, they find many of the same phenomena in other Romance languages, including Aranese Occitan,

and

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

; they explain these phenomena as due to natural Romance drift. Naro and Scherre affirm that Brazilian Portuguese is not a "decreolized" form, but rather the "

nativization Nativization is the process through which in the virtual absence of native speakers, a language undergoes new phonological, morphological, syntactical, semantic and stylistic changes, and gains new native speakers. This happens necessarily when ...

" of a "radical Romanic" form. They assert that the phenomena found in Brazilian Portuguese are inherited from Classical Latin and Old Portuguese. According to another linguist, vernacular Brazilian Portuguese is continuous with European Portuguese, while its phonetics are more conservative in several aspects, characterizing the nativization of a koiné formed by several regional European Portuguese varieties brought to Brazil, modified by natural drift.

Written and spoken languages

The written language taught in Brazilian

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

s has historically been based by law on the standard of

and until the 19th century, Portuguese writers often were regarded as models by some Brazilian authors and university professors. However, this aspiration to unity was severely weakened in the 20th century by nationalist movements in literature and the arts, which awakened in many Brazilians a desire for a national style uninfluenced by the standards of Portugal. Later, agreements were reached to preserve at least an orthographic unity throughout the Portuguese-speaking world, including the African and Asian variants of the language (which are typically more similar to EP, due to a Portuguese presence lasting into the second half of the 20th century). On the other hand, the spoken language was not subject to any of the constraints that applied to the written language, and consequently Brazilian Portuguese sounds different from any of the other varieties of the language. Brazilians, when concerned with pronunciation, look to what is considered the national standard variety, and never to the European one. This linguistic independence was fostered by the tension between Portugal and the settlers (immigrants) in Brazil from the time of the country's de facto settlement, as immigrants were forbidden to speak freely in their native languages in Brazil for fear of severe punishment by the Portuguese authorities. Lately, Brazilians in general have had some exposure to European speech, through TV and music. Often one will see Brazilian actors working in Portugal and Portuguese actors working in Brazil. Modern Brazilian Portuguese has been highly influenced by other languages introduced by immigrants through the past century, specifically by German, Italian and Japanese immigrants. This high intake of immigrants not only caused the incorporation and/or adaptation of many words and expressions from their native language into local language, but also created specific dialects, such as the German ''Hunsrückisch'' dialect in the South of Brazil.

Orthography

The written Brazilian standard differs from the European one to about the same extent that written American English differs from written British English. The differences extend to spelling, lexicon, and grammar. However, with the entry into force of the Orthographic Agreement of 1990 in Portugal and in Brazil since 2009, these differences were drastically reduced. Several Brazilian writers have been awarded with the highest prize of the Portuguese language. The

Camões Prize The Camões Prize (, ), named after Luís de Camões, is the most prestigious prize for literature in the Portuguese language. The prize was established in 1989 and is supported by the governments of Brazil and Portugal. It is awarded annually to ...

awarded annually by Portuguese and Brazilians is often regarded as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in Literature for works in Portuguese.

Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (), often known by his surnames as Machado de Assis, ''Machado,'' or ''Bruxo do Cosme Velho''Vainfas, p. 505. (21 June 1839 – 29 September 1908), was a pioneer Brazilian people, Brazilian novelist, poet, playwr ...

João Guimarães Rosa João Guimarães Rosa (; 27 June 1908 – 19 November 1967) was a Brazilian novelist, short story writer, poet and diplomat. Rosa only wrote one novel, '' Grande Sertão: Veredas'' (known in English as ''The Devil to Pay in the Backlands''), a ...

Carlos Drummond de Andrade Carlos Drummond de Andrade () (October 31, 1902 – August 17, 1987) was a Brazilian poet and writer, considered by some as the greatest Brazilian poet of all time. He has become something of a national cultural symbol in Brazil, where his wi ...

Graciliano Ramos Graciliano Ramos de Oliveira (; October 27, 1892 – March 20, 1953) was a Brazilian modernist writer, politician and journalist. He is known worldwide for his portrayal of the precarious situation of the poor inhabitants of the Brazilian '' ser ...

João Cabral de Melo Neto João Cabral de Melo Neto (January 6, 1920 – October 9, 1999) was a Brazilian poet and diplomat, and one of the most influential writers in late Brazilian modernism. He was awarded the 1990 Camões Prize and the 1992 Neustadt International Pri ...

, Cecília Meireles,

Clarice Lispector Clarice Lispector (, born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector (; ) December 10, 1920December 9, 1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer. Her distinctive and innovative works delve into diverse narrative forms, weaving them ...

José de Alencar José Martiniano de Alencar (May 1, 1829 – December 12, 1877) was a Brazilian lawyer, politician, orator, novelist and dramatist. He is considered to be one of the most famous and influential Brazilian Romantic novelists of the 19th century, ...

Rachel de Queiroz Rachel de Queiroz (, November 17, 1910 – November 4, 2003) was a Brazilian author, translator and journalist. Biography Rachel de Queiroz was born on November 17, 1910 in Fortaleza, capital of the northeastern state of Ceará. During her c ...

Jorge Amado Jorge Amado ( 10 August 1912 – 6 August 2001) was a Brazilian writer of the modernist school. He remains the best-known of modern Brazilian writers, with his work having been translated into some 49 languages and popularized in film, includi ...

Castro Alves Antônio Frederico de Castro Alves (14 March 1847 – 6 July 1871) was a Brazilian poet and playwright famous for his abolitionist and republican poems. One of the most famous poets of the Condorist movement, he wrote classics such as '' Esp ...

Antonio Candido Antonio Candido de Mello e Souza (July 24, 1918 – May 12, 2017) was a Brazilian writer, professor, sociologist, and literary critic. As a critic of Brazilian literature, he is regarded as having been one of the foremost scholars on the subject ...

, Autran Dourado,

Rubem Fonseca Rubem Fonseca (May 11, 1925 – April 15, 2020) was a Brazilian writer. Life and career He was born in Juiz de Fora, in the state of Minas Gerais, but he lived most of his life in Rio de Janeiro. In 1952, he started his career as a low-level cop ...

Lygia Fagundes Telles Lygia Fagundes da Silva Telles ( de Azevedo Fagundes; ; 19 April 1918 – 3 April 2022), also known as "the lady of Brazilian literature" and "the greatest Brazilian writer" while alive, was a Brazilian novelist and writer, considered by academ ...

and

Euclides da Cunha Euclides da Cunha (, January 20, 1866 – August 15, 1909) was a Brazilian journalist, sociologist and engineer. His most important work is '' Os Sertões'' (''Rebellion in the Backlands''), a non-fictional account of the military expeditions ...

are Brazilian writers recognized for writing the most outstanding work in the Portuguese language.

Spelling differences

The Brazilian spellings of certain words differ from those used in Portugal and the other Portuguese-speaking countries. Some of these differences are merely orthographic, but others reflect true differences in pronunciation. Until the implementation of the 1990 orthographic reform, a major subset of the differences related to the consonant clusters ''cc'', ''cç'', ''ct'', ''pc'', ''pç'', and ''pt''. In many cases, the letters ''c'' or ''p'' in syllable-final position have become silent in all varieties of Portuguese, a common phonetic change in Romance languages (cf. Spanish ''objeto'', French ''objet''). Accordingly, they stopped being written in BP (compare

spelling standards), but continued to be written in other Portuguese-speaking countries. For example, the word ''acção'' ("action") in European Portuguese became ''ação'' in Brazil, European ''óptimo'' ("optimum") became ''ótimo'' in Brazil, and so on, where the consonant was silent both in BP and EP, but the words were spelled differently. Only in a small number of words is the consonant silent in Brazil and pronounced elsewhere or vice versa, as in the case of BP ''fato'', but EP ''facto''. However, the new Portuguese language orthographic reform led to the elimination of the writing of the silent consonants also in the EP, making now the writing system virtually identical in all of the Portuguese-speaking countries. However, BP has retained those silent consonants in a few cases, such as ''detectar'' ("to detect"). In particular, BP generally distinguishes in sound and writing between ''secção'' ("section" as in ''anatomy'' or ''drafting'') and ''seção'' ("section" of an organization); whereas EP uses ''secção'' for both senses. Another major set of differences is the BP usage of ''ô'' or ''ê'' in many words where EP has ''ó'' or ''é'', such as BP ''neurônio'' / EP ''neurónio'' ("neuron") and BP ''arsênico'' / EP ''arsénico'' ("arsenic"). These spelling differences are due to genuinely different pronunciations. In EP, the vowels ''e'' and ''o'' may be open (''é'' or ''ó'') or closed (''ê'' or ''ô'') when they are stressed before one of the nasal consonants ''m'', ''n'' followed by a vowel, but in BP they are always closed in this environment. The variant spellings are necessary in those cases because the general Portuguese spelling rules mandate a stress diacritic in those words, and the Portuguese diacritics also encode vowel quality. Another source of variation is the spelling of the sound before ''e'' and ''i''. By Portuguese spelling rules, that sound can be written either as ''j'' (favored in BP for certain words) or ''g'' (favored in EP). Thus, for example, we have BP ''berinjela ''/ EP ''beringela'' ("eggplant").

Language register – formal vs. informal

The linguistic situation of the BP informal speech in relation to the standard language is controversial. There are authors (Bortoni, Kato, Mattos e Silva, Bagno, Perini) who describe it as a case of

diglossia In linguistics, diglossia ( , ) is where two dialects or languages are used (in fairly strict compartmentalization) by a single language community. In addition to the community's everyday or vernacular language variety (labeled "L" or "low" v ...

, considering that informal BP has developed, both in

phonetics Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds or, in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign. Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians ...

and

grammar In linguistics, grammar is the set of rules for how a natural language is structured, as demonstrated by its speakers or writers. Grammar rules may concern the use of clauses, phrases, and words. The term may also refer to the study of such rul ...

, in its own particular way. Accordingly, the formal register of Brazilian Portuguese has a written and spoken form. The written formal register (FW) is used in almost all printed media and written communication, is uniform throughout the country and is the "Portuguese" officially taught at school. The spoken formal register (FS) is essentially a phonetic rendering of the written form. (FS) is used in very formal situations, such as speeches or ceremonies or when reading directly out of a text. While (FS) is necessarily uniform in lexicon and grammar, it shows noticeable regional variations in pronunciation.

Characteristics of informal Brazilian Portuguese

The main and most general (i.e. not considering various regional variations) characteristics of the informal variant of BP are the following. While these characteristics are typical of Brazilian speech, some may also be present to varying degrees in other Lusophone areas, particular in Angola, Mozambique and Cabo Verde, which frequently incorporate certain features common to both the South American and European varieties. Although these characteristics would be readily understood in Portugal due to exposure to Brazilian media (and because they are observable in Portugal to some extent as well), other forms are preferred there (except the points concerning "estar" and "dar"). * dropping the first syllable of the verb ''estar'' (" tatal/incidentalto be") throughout the conjugation (''ele tá'' ("he's") instead of ''ele está'' ("he is"), ''nós táva(mos/mo)'' ("we were") instead of ''nós estávamos'' ("we were")); * dropping prepositions before subordinate and relative clauses beginning with conjunctions (''Ele precisa que vocês ajudem'' instead of ''Ele precisa de que vocês ajudem''); * replacing ''haver'' when it means "to exist" with ''ter'' ("to have"): ''Tem muito problema na cidade'' ("There are many problems in the city") is much more frequent in speech than ''Há muitos problemas na cidade.'' * lack of third-person object pronouns, which may be replaced by their respective subject pronouns or omitted completely (''eu vi ele'' or even just ''eu vi'' instead of ''eu o vi'' for "I saw him/it") * lack of second-person verb forms (except for some parts of Brazil) and, in various regions, plural third-person forms as well. For example ''tu cantas'' becomes ''tu canta'' or ''você canta'' (Brazilian uses the pronoun "você" a lot but "tu" is more localized. Some states never use it, but in some places such as Rio Grande do Sul, Ceará and Paraíba "você" is almost never used in informal speech, with "tu" being used instead, using both second and third-person forms depending on the speaker) * lack of the relative pronoun ''cujo/cuja'' ("whose"), which is replaced by ''que'' ("that/which"), either alone (the possession being implied) or along with a possessive pronoun or expression, such as ''dele/dela'' (''A mulher cujo filho morreu'' ("the woman whose son died") becomes ''A mulher que o filho elamorreu'' ("the woman that erson died")) * frequent use of the pronoun ''a gente'' ("people") with 3rd p. sg verb forms instead of the 1st p. pl verb forms and pronoun ''nós'' ("we/us"), though both are formally correct and ''nós'' is still much used. * obligatory proclisis in all cases (always ''me disseram'', rarely ''disseram-me''), as well as use of the pronoun between two verbs in a verbal expression (always ''vem me treinando'', never ''me vem treinando'' or ''vem treinando-me'') * contracting certain high-frequency phrases, which is not necessarily unacceptable in standard BP (''para'' > ''pra''; ''dependo de ele ajudar'' > ''dependo 'dele' ajudar''; ''com as'' > ''cas''; ''deixa eu ver'' > ''xo vê/xeu vê''; ''você está'' > ''cê tá'' etc.) * preference for ''para'' over ''a'' in the directional meaning (''Para onde você vai?'' instead of ''Aonde você vai?'' ("Where are you going?")) * use of certain idiomatic expressions, such as ''Cadê o carro?'' instead of ''Onde está o carro?'' ("Where is the car?") * lack of indirect object pronouns, especially ''lhe'', which are replaced by ''para'' plus their respective personal pronoun (''Dê um copo de água para ele'' instead of ''Dê-lhe um copo de água'' ("Give him a glass of water"); ''Quero mandar uma carta para você'' instead of ''Quero lhe mandar uma carta'' ("I want to send you a letter")) * use of ''aí'' as a pronoun for indefinite direct objects (similar to French 'en'). Examples: ''fala aí'' ("say it"), ''esconde aí'' ("hide it"), ''pera aí'' (''espera aí'' = "wait a moment"); * impersonal use of the verb ''dar'' ("to give") to express that something is feasible or permissible. Example: ''dá pra eu comer?'' ("can/may I eat it?"); ''deu pra eu entender'' ("I could understand"); ''dá pra ver um homem na foto'' instead of ''pode ver-se um homem na foto'' ("it's possible to see a man in the picture") *though often regarded as "uneducated" by language purists, some regions and social groups tend to avoid "redundant" plural agreement in article-noun-verb sequences in the spoken language, since the plural article alone is sufficient to express plurality. Examples: ''os menino vai pra escola'' ("the luralboy goes to school") rather than ''os meninos vão para a escola'' ("the boys go to school"). Gender agreement, however, is always made even when plural agreement is omitted: ''os menino esperto'' (the smart boys) vs. ''as menina esperta'' (the smart girls). * Use of a contraction of the imperative form of the verb "to look" ("olhar" = olha = ó) suffixed to adverbs of the place "aqui" and "ali" ("here" and "there") when directing someone's attention to something: "Olha, o carro dele 'ta ali-ó" (Look, his car's there/that's where his car is). When this is spoken reproduced in subtitles for audiovisual media, it is usually written in the non-contracted form ("aqui olha"), modern pronunciation notwithstanding.

Grammar

Syntactic and morphological features

Topic-prominent language

Modern

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

studies have shown that Brazilian Portuguese is a topic-prominent or topic- and subject-prominent language. Sentences with topic are extensively used in Portuguese, perhaps more in Brazilian Portuguese most often by means of turning an element (object or verb) in the sentence into an introductory phrase, on which the body of the sentence constitutes a comment (topicalization), thus emphasizing it, as in ''Esses assuntos eu não conheço bem,'' literally, "These subjects I don't know

hem A hem in sewing is a garment finishing method, where the edge of a piece of cloth is folded and sewn to prevent unravelling of the fabric and to adjust the length of the piece in garments, such as at the end of the sleeve or the bottom of the ga ...

well" (although this sentence would be perfectly acceptable in Portugal as well). In fact, in the Portuguese language, the anticipation of the verb or object at the beginning of the sentence, repeating it or using the respective pronoun referring to it, is also quite common, e.g. in ''Essa menina, eu não sei o que fazer com ela'' ("This girl, I don't know what to do with her") or ''Com essa menina eu não sei o que fazer'' ("With this girl I don't know what to do"). The use of redundant pronouns for means of topicalization is considered grammatically incorrect, because the topicalized noun phrase, according to traditional European analysis, has no syntactic function. This kind of construction, however, is often used in European Portuguese. Brazilian grammars traditionally treat this structure similarly, rarely mentioning such a thing as ''topic''. Nevertheless, the so-called

anacoluthon An anacoluthon (; from the Greek , from 'not', and 'following') is an unexpected discontinuity in the expression of ideas within a sentence, leading to a form of words in which there is logical or grammatical incoherence of thought. Anacolutha ...

has taken on a new dimension in Brazilian Portuguese. The poet

once wrote a short ''metapoema'' (a ''metapoem'', i. e., a poem about poetry, a specialty for which he was renowned) treating the concept of ''anacoluto'': In colloquial language, this kind of ''anacoluto'' may even be used when the subject itself is the topic, only to add more emphasis to this fact, e.g. the sentence ''Essa menina, ela costuma tomar conta de cachorros abandonados'' ("This girl, she usually takes care of abandoned dogs"). This structure highlights the topic, and could be more accurately translated as "As for this girl, she usually takes care of abandoned dogs." The use of this construction is particularly common with compound subjects, as in, e.g., ''Eu e ela, nós fomos passear'' ("She and I, we went for a walk"). This happens because the traditional syntax (''Eu e ela fomos passear'') places a plural-conjugated verb immediately following an argument in the singular, which may sound unnatural to Brazilian ears. The redundant pronoun thus clarifies the verbal inflection in such cases.

Progressive

Portuguese makes extensive use of verbs in the progressive aspect, almost as in English. Brazilian Portuguese seldom has the present continuous construct ''estar a'' + infinitive, which, in contrast, has become quite common in European over the last few centuries. BP maintains the Classical Portuguese form of continuous expression, which is made by ''estar'' +

gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ger) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, it is one that functions as a noun. The name is derived from Late Latin ''gerundium,'' meaning "which is ...

. Thus, Brazilians will always write ''ela está dançando'' ("she is dancing"), not ''ela está a dançar''. The same restriction applies to several other uses of the gerund: BP uses ''ficamos conversando'' ("we kept on talking") and ''ele trabalha cantando'' ("he sings while he works"), but rarely ''ficamos a conversar'' and ''ele trabalha a cantar'' as is the case in most varieties of EP. BP retains the combination ''a'' + infinitive for uses that are not related to continued action, such as ''voltamos a correr'' ("we went back to running"). Some varieties of EP amely from Alentejo, Algarve, Açores (Azores), and Madeira">Alentejo.html" ;"title="amely from Alentejo">amely from Alentejo, Algarve, Açores (Azores), and Madeiraalso tend to feature ''estar'' +

, as in Brazil.

Personal pronouns

=Syntax

= In general, the dialects that gave rise to Portuguese had quite a flexible use of the object pronouns in the proclitic or enclitic positions. In Classical Portuguese, the use of proclisis was very extensive, while, on the contrary, in modern European Portuguese the use of enclisis has become indisputably predominant. BP normally places the pronoun">object pronoun In linguistics, an object pronoun is a personal pronoun that is used typically as a grammatical object: the direct or indirect object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Object pronouns contrast with subject pronouns. Object pronouns in En ...

History

Portuguese language in Brazil

Loanwords

Other influences

Written and spoken languages

Orthography

Spelling differences

Language register – formal vs. informal

Characteristics of informal Brazilian Portuguese

Grammar

Syntactic and morphological features

Topic-prominent language

Progressive

Personal pronouns

=Syntax

=Contracted forms

=Mesoclisis

Preferences

Simple versus compound tenses

Differences in formal spoken language

Phonology

Vowels

Consonants

= Palatalization of /di/ and /ti/

= Palatalization of /li/ and /ni/

= Epenthetic glide before final /s/

=Epenthesis in consonant clusters

=L-vocalization and suppression of final r

=Nasalization

=Palatalization of the syllable-final sibilants

=Other phonetic changes

Differences in the informal spoken language

Grammar

Affirmation and negation

Imperative

Deictics

Personal pronouns and possessives

=''Tu'' and ''você''

=2nd person singular conjugation in Brazilian Portuguese

=Third-person direct object pronouns

=''Seu'' and ''dele''

=Definite article before possessive

=Syntax

Use of prepositions

=''Chamar de''

=''Em'' with verbs of movement

Dialects

Diglossia

Usage

Prestige

Impact

Language codes

See also

Notes

References

Bibliography