Brazilian Portuguese - Lexicon

Lexicon

This section does not cite any references or sources.

The vocabularies of Brazilian and European Portuguese also differ in a couple of thousand words, many of which refer to concepts that were introduced separately in BP and EP.

Since Brazilian independence in 1822, BP has tended to borrow words from English and French. However, BP generally adopts foreign words with minimal adjustments, while EP tends to apply deeper morphological changes. However, there are instances of BP adapting English words, whereas EP retains the original form – hence estoque and stock. Finally, one dialect often borrowed a word while the other coined a new one from native elements. So one has, for example

BP mouse ← English "(computer) mouse" versus EP rato ← literal translation of "mouse" in Portuguese
BP esporte (alternatives: desporto, desporte) ← English "sport" versus EP desporto ← Spanish deporte
BP jaqueta ← English "jacket" versus EP blusão ← EP blusa ← French blouse (also used in BP)
BP concreto ← English "concrete" versus EP betão ← French beton (in BP, a concrete truck is still called "betoneira")
BP grampeador ("stapler") ← grapadora ← Spanish grapa versus EP agrafadoragrafo ← French agrafe.

A few other examples are given in the following table:

Brazil Portugal English
abridor de latas abre-latas can opener
aeromoça, comissária de bordo hospedeira flight stewardess
água-viva, medusa alforreca jellyfish
AIDS SIDA (Síndrome da Imunodeficiência Adquirida) AIDS
alho poró alho-porro, alho-francês leek
amerissagem amaragem landing on the sea, splash-down
aquarela aguarela watercolor
arquivo ficheiro file
aterrissagem aterragem landing
Band-Aid penso rápido band-aid (US), plaster (UK)
banheiro, toalete, toilettes, sanitário casa de banho, quarto de banho, lavabos, sanitários bathroom, toilet
bonde, bonde elétrico eléctrico streetcar (US), tram (UK)
brócoli brócolos broccoli
cílio (Classical Latin "cilium"), pestana, celha pestana eyelash
café da manhã, desjejum, parva pequeno almoço, desjejum breakfast
caminhonete, van, perua (informal) camioneta station wagon (US), estate car (UK)
câncer cancro cancer (the disease)
carona boleia ride, hitchhiking
carteira de habilitação, carteira de motorista, carta carta de condução driver's license (US), driving licence (UK)
carteira de identidade, RG (from "Registro Geral") bilhete de identidade ID card
telefone celular (or simply and most common "celular"), aparelho de telefonia celular telemóvel cell phone (US), mobile phone (UK)
canadense canadiano Canadian
caqui (from Japanese 柿 kaki) dióspiro persimmon
disco rígido, HD disco duro hard disk
dublagem dobragem dubbing
durex, fita adesiva fita gomada, fita-cola, fita adesiva Scotch Tape (US), Sellotape (UK)
time, equipe equipa, equipe team
estação de trem gare, estação railway station
estrada de ferro, ferrovia caminho de ferro, ferrovia railway
favela bairro de lata slum, shanty-town
fila bicha, fila line (US), queue (UK)
fóton fotão photon
fones de ouvido auscultadores, auriculares headphones
freio, breque travão, freio brake
gol golo goal (in sports)
grama, relva relva grass (lawn)
Irã Irão Iran
Islã Islão Islam
israelense, israelita israelita Israeli
maiô, maillot fato de banho woman's swimsuit
mamadeira biberão, biberon baby bottle
metrô metro, metropolitano underground railway, metropolitan railway
Moscou Moscovo Moscow
ônibus autocarro bus
polonês, polaco polaco Polish
rúgbi, rugby râguebi, rugby rugby
secretária eletrônica atendedor de chamadas (telephone) answering machine
sutiã, soutien soutien, sutiã bra
tcheco, checo checo Czech
tela ecrã screen
trem, composição ferroviária comboio train
Vietnã Vietname Vietnam

Read more about this topic:  Brazilian Portuguese

Famous quotes containing the word lexicon:

    According to Father’s lexicon people who started on a job and didn’t stay at it for 50 years were “quitters.” If you stayed 20 years and then shifted to more congenial work you were a “drifter.”
    Richard Bissell (1913–1977)

    Psychobabble is ... a set of repetitive verbal formalities that kills off the very spontaneity, candor, and understanding it pretends to promote. It’s an idiom that reduces psychological insight to a collection of standardized observations, that provides a frozen lexicon to deal with an infinite variety of problems.
    Richard Dean Rosen (b. 1949)