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-ão. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
-ão, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
-ão in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Portuguese
Etymology 1
From Old Galician-Portuguese -on, from Latin -ōnem. Akin to Spanish -ón, Italian -one and French -on, compare Romanian -oi.
Pronunciation
Suffix
-ão m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ões, feminine -ona, feminine plural -onas)
- forms the augmentative of nouns
- Synonyms: -ácio, -aço, -alhão, -arrão, -ázio, -eirão
- Antonyms: -inho, -ito, -culo, -ete
- forms nouns, from nouns denoting things, meaning “big thing,” usually but not necessarily with the same gender
- livro (“book”) + -ão → livrão (“big book”)
- janela (“window”) + -ão → janelona (“big window”)
- used to refer to things affectionately
- filho (“son”) + -ão → filhão (“used by a father to address his son, when he is proud of the son”)
- amigo (“friend”) + -ão → amigão (“a good friend; a true friend”)
- forms nouns, from nouns, implying that the suffixed noun is powerful or good
- carro (“car”) + -ão → carrão (“high-performance car”)
- calor (“heat”) + -ão → calorão (“intense heat”)
- soco (“punch”) + -ão → socão (“powerful punch”)
- in nouns that are formed from, or homonymous with, an adjective, it augments the quality expressed by the adjective
- cabeludo (“long-haired (adjective); long-haired person (noun)”) + -ão → cabeludão (“person with very long hair”)
- forms the masculine of animal names (whether the animal refers to females or to males and females)
- abelha (“bee (any sex)”) + -ão → abelhão (“drone”)
- cabra (“she-goat”) + -ão → cabrão (“billy goat”)
- forms nouns, from nouns, denoting an item of the same class as the suffixed noun, or which shares a characteristic with the suffixed noun
- calça (“pants”) + -ão → calção (“shorts”)
- agulha (“needle”) + -ão → agulhão (“sharp rock on a riverbed”)
- fogo (“fire”) + -ão → fogão (“stove”)
- (slang) forms nouns, from a numeral X divisible by ten and greater than thirty, meaning “someone in his Xs”
- quarenta (“forty”) + -ão → quarentão (“someone in his forties”)
- forms nouns, from a verb X, meaning a strong or violent instance of doing X
- arrastar (“to drag”) + -ão → arrastão (“an instance of violently dragging something”)
- puxar (“to pull”) + -ão → puxão (“a strong or violent pull”)
- pisar (“to step”) + -ão → pisão (“a strong or violent step”)
- (informal, derogatory) forms nouns, from a verb X, meaning an agent of such verb
- fugir (“to flee”) + -ão → fujão (“someone who flees from something”)
- cagar (“to shit”) + -ão → cagão (“someone who shits upon something, a coward”)
- mijar (“to piss”) + -ão → mijão (“someone who wets themselves”)
- arregar (“to back off”) + -ão → arregão (“someone who backs off from a challenge, a quitter”)
- (Brazil, slang) forms nouns, from a numeral X, meaning “X amount of money” or “a bill worth X”
- cinco (“five”) + -ão → cincão (“five bucks”)
- mil (“thousand”) + -ão → milzão (“a thousand bucks”)
Suffix
-ão (adjective-forming suffix, feminine -ona, masculine plural -ões, feminine plural -onas)
- (somewhat informal) forms the augmentative of adjectives, roughly equivalent to English quite
- grande (“big”) + -ão → grandão (“quite big”)
Etymology 2
From Old Galician-Portuguese -ão, from Latin -ānus (“-ian”). Doublet of -ano.
Pronunciation
Suffix
-ão m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ãos, feminine -ã, feminine plural -ãs)
-ão (adjective-forming suffix, feminine -ã, masculine plural -ãos, feminine plural -ãs)
- (no longer productive) forms adjectives, nouns and proper nouns referring to a location or type of location, meaning “of or relating to that location” and nouns meaning “someone from that location”
- Synonyms: -ano, -ense
- vila (“village”) + -ão → vilão (“villager”)
- cidade (“city”) + -ão → cidadão (“citizen”)
- Beira (“a region in Portugal”) + -ão → beirão (“relating to Beira”, “someone from Beira”)
Etymology 3
Pronunciation
Suffix
-ão m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ões)
- -on (forming nouns denoting subatomic particles)
- magnete (“magnet”) + -ão → magnetão (“magneton”)
Etymology 4
From Old Galician-Portuguese -an, from an (modern Portuguese: hão) from Latin habent, third-person plural present indicative of habeō (“to have”).
Pronunciation
Suffix
-ão
- forms the third-person plural future indicative, from the infinitive of verbs
- falar (“to speak”) + -ão → falarão (“(they) will speak”)
- comer (“to eat”) + -ão → comerão (“(they) will eat”)
- sorrir (“to smile”) + -ão → sorrirão (“(they) will smile”)
Etymology 5
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): (stress on the penultimate syllable) /ɐ̃w̃/
Suffix
-ão
- Pre-reform spelling (until Brazil 1943/Portugal 1911) of -am. , now a common misspelling
Usage notes
Words ending in -ão are pluralised differently depending on its origin:
- Those in which the suffix is derived from Latin -ōnem (including all masculine augmentatives), as well as words derived from French words ending in -on, Italian words ending in -one or Spanish words ending in -ón (all from Latin -ōnem as well), are pluralised with -ões.
- Those in which the suffix derives from Latin -ānus (“-ian”), as well as words derived from other Latin words ending in -ānus, such as mão and chão, are pluralised with -ãos.
- Some words ending in -ão pluralise as -ães. In these cases the -ão is either not a suffix and derives from Old Portuguese -an, from Latin -ānem, -anēs, or derived from an -an suffix in Old Gallician-Portuguese which has become assimilated regardless of its derivation.
- Some words have non-predictable pluralisations, for example:
Derived terms
See also