Appendix:Reforms of Portuguese orthography

The Portuguese language adopted a standard orthography around the 19th century. This appendix documents the reforms and changes made to such orthography over time.

The Portuguese Orthographic Reform of 1911 was the first reform to standardize and simplify the orthography in Portugal.

• Source: Vocabulário ortográfico e remissivo da língua portuguesa on Portuguese Wikisource

• ⟨k⟩, replaced with ⟨c⟩ or ⟨qu⟩ in all words except for symbols and terms derived from foreign names.

  vodka → vodca

• ⟨w⟩, replaced with ⟨u⟩ or ⟨v⟩ in all words except for symbols and terms derived from foreign names.

  walsa → valsa

• ⟨y⟩, replaced with ⟨i⟩ in any word in all words except for symbols and terms derived from foreign names

  lagryma → lágrima

• The Form also declares it valid (but not mandatory) to respell terms derived from foreign names.

  cantismo, alongside kantismo

  daruinismo, alongside darwinismo

  baironiano, alongside byroniano

• Respelling of ⟨ch⟩ (/k/) with ⟨qu⟩ before ⟨e⟩, ⟨u⟩; with ⟨c⟩ before other letters.

  cherubim → querubim

• Respelling of ⟨ph⟩ (/f/) with ⟨f⟩.

  philosophia → filosofia

• Respelling of ⟨th⟩ (/t/) with ⟨t⟩.

  theatro → teatro

• Replacement of ⟨e⟩ with ⟨i⟩ and ⟨o⟩ with ⟨u⟩ in falling diphtongs.

  geraes → gerais

  pao → pau

  chapeo → chapéu

  • Words where ⟨oe⟩ and ⟨ue⟩ represented hiatus rather than a diphthong, such as abençoe and cultue, were not affected.

• Removal of ⟨h⟩ in initial position if unetymological.

  hombro → ombro (from Old Galician-Portuguese ombro)

• Removal of ⟨h⟩ within words.

  sahir → sair

  exhaurir → exaurir

  • ⟨h⟩ was also removed from non-hyphenated compounds.

    deshumano → desumano

• Removal of ⟨h⟩ in final position, except for interjections (e.g., ah!, oh!).

  Judah → Judá

• Change of spelling of enclisis and mesoclisis: prior to the reform, the forms on the left were commonly seen, though spellings more similar to the form on the right also existed.

  pegal-o → pegá-lo — pegar +‎ lo

  amal-a hei → amá-la hei — amar +‎ lo +‎ hei / ei

  comel-o hia → comê-lo hia — comer +‎ lo +‎ hia / ia

• Removal of doubled consonant letters, as long as it doesn't alter the word's pronunciation.

  accusar → acusar

  aggravo → agravo

  chamma → chama

  panno → pano

  ⟨cc⟩ was kept when pronounced /ks/, e.g., occipital.

  ⟨mm⟩ and ⟨nn⟩ were kept in cases such as emmalar and connosco, because emalar and conosco would suggest pronunciations without nasal vowels.

• Removal of silent consonants, as long as they do not alter the preceding vowel’s pronunciation.

  somno → sono

  Silent consonants that indicated the lowering of a preceding vowel were maintained. Thus, adopção, pronounced with /a/, not /ɐ/.

  Silent consonants were also maintained in words if a related word kept them in its spelling. Thus, Egipto because of egípcio, with the ⟨p⟩ pronounced; correcto because of correcção, with the ⟨c⟩ indicating a lowered /ɛ/.

• Removal of the apostrophe ⟨’⟩ in contractions formed by a pronoun, article, or adverb and the prepositions a, de, em and per / por, as well as in general writing. Prior to the reform, forms with apostrophes were commonly seen, though forms without them were also used.

  d’ahi → daí (from de +‎ ahi / aí)

  d’aqui → daqui (from de +‎ aqui)

  n’ella → nela (from em +‎ ella / ela)

  • It was kept to indicate deliberate elision of a letter, exclusively in poetry, as well as in compounds with d’.

    esp’rança (from esperança)

    mãe-d’água

• Change in the spelling of crasis to use a grave accent instead of an acute one.

  á → à (from a +‎ a)

  áquele → àquele (from a +‎ aquele)

  áqueloutro → àqueloutro (from a +‎ aqueloutro)

  This was likely for distinction from other newly added accent marks.

• Accentuation of oxytones ending in ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, or ⟨o⟩, either alone or followed by ⟨s⟩ — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the vowel’s height.

  alvará

  maré

  mercê

  portaló

  avô

  These accents were already in frequent use prior to the reform, even for words ending in ⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩; these were, in a sense, removed with this reform.

• Accentuation of oxytones ending in ⟨em⟩ or ⟨ens⟩ (plural) — with a circumflex accent ⟨^⟩. Monosyllables were an exception and did not receive accents.

  Belêm

  tambêm

  but, bem

• Accentuation of oxytones ending in open ⟨eu⟩ (/ɛw/), ⟨ei⟩ (/ɛj/), either alone or followed by ⟨s⟩.

  céu

  réis

  Note that most European Portuguese accents do not distinguish /ɛj/ from /ej/ within words, so the diphthong is not accentuated in such positions. Furthermore, /ɛw/ does not occur within words.

• Accentuation of paroxytones ending in ⟨i⟩ or ⟨u⟩, either alone or followed by ⟨l, r, s⟩ — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  quási

  Vénus

• Accentuation of paroxytones ending in a nasal monophthong, either by itself or followed by ⟨s⟩ (⟨ã~an~ans⟩, ⟨em~en~ens⟩, ⟨om~on~ons⟩, ⟨im~ins⟩, ⟨um~uns⟩) — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  órfã

  álbum

• Accentuation of paroxytones ending in a diphthong, either by itself or followed by ⟨s⟩ — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  fáceis

• Accentuation of paroxytones ending in ⟨l, n, r, x⟩ — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  carácter

  cônsul

  Note that the only paroxytones spelled with word-final ⟨m⟩ are verb forms such as pegam, houvessem. These do not receive accents.

• Accentuation of verbal forms ending in ⟨eem⟩ — with a circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent on the first ⟨e⟩.

  vêem

  lêem

• Accentuation of all proparoxytones — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  sábado

  farmacêutico

  esdrúxulo

• Accentuation of stressed open ⟨oi⟩ (/ɔj/) anywhere in the word — with an acute ⟨´⟩ accent.

  jibóia

  lençóis

• Accentuation of stressed ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ in hiatus — with an acute ⟨´⟩ accent. However, the accent may be omitted if followed by ⟨nh⟩, or if the following letter is ⟨l, m, n, r, z⟩ and part of the same syllable.

  faísca (fa-is-ca)

  saúde (sa-u-de)

  caí (ca-i)

  but, rainha (ra-i-nha), ainda (a-in-da),

  Though the Form’s body says the omission of the accent is “permissible” in certain types of words, the Vocabulary published alongside the Form spells such words without the accent. It can be understood that it was in fact preferred, if not mandatory, to omit the accent.

• Optional indication of unstressed ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ in hiatus — with a grave ⟨`⟩ accent.

  macaìbeira (ma-ca-i-bei-ra, from macaíba)

  faìscar (fa-is-car, from faísca)

  In the Vocabulary published alongside the Form, words appear to receive this accent only if the pronunciation with hiatus is most common or exclusive. Thus, saudade and not saùdade.

• Accentuation of verbal forms ending in ⟨eem⟩ — with a circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent on the first ⟨e⟩.

  vêem

  lêem

  Note that, at the time of this reform, the plural equivalent of tem and vem was spelled teem, veem, reflecting the pronunciation with /-ɐ̃j̃.ɐ̃j̃/.

• Use of differential accent:
  • For the first-person plural preterite indicative form of verbs, with a grave ⟨`⟩, to distinguish it from the first-person plural present.

    louvamos (present, /ɐ/) — louvámos (preterite, /a/)

  • For pairs of stressed words differing in vowel height that would otherwise be homographs — with a circumflex ⟨^⟩ on the word with a close vowel.

    rego (verb, /ɛ/) — rêgo (noun, /e/)

    esse (noun, /ɛ/) — êsse (pronoun, /e/)

    sobre (verb, /ɛ/) — sôbre (noun, /e/)

  • Additionally, to distinguish stressed words from their unstressed would-be homographs:

    cômo (verb, /ˈo/) — como (various, unstressed; /o~u/)

    pára (verb, /ˈa/) — para (preposition, /ɐ~a/)

    pélo (verb, /ˈɛ/) — pelo (contraction, /e/) — pêlo (noun, /ˈe/)

    péla (verb, /ˈɛ/) — pela (contraction, /ˈe/)

    pólo (noun, /ˈɔ/) — polo (contraction, /u~o/) — pôlo (noun, /ˈo/)

    péra (noun, /ˈɛ/) — pera (contraction, /ɛ/) — pêra (noun, /ˈe/)

    quê (stressed pronoun, /ˈe/) — que (various, unstressed; /i/)

    Includes the derived forms porque, porquê.

• When a word is suffixed with -zão or -zinho, acute ⟨´⟩ accents get changed to grave ⟨`⟩; when adding -mente, the accent does not change. Circumflex ⟨^⟩ accents remain unaltered in either case.

  cafèzinho (from café)

  sòzinho (from só)

  fácilmente (from fácil)

  cortêsmente (from cortês)

  sómente (from só)

• Hyphenation of words whose parts are phonetically independent. Some terms are kept without it, but no reasoning is given.

  ‎pára + ‎raios → ‎pára-raios

  ‎água + ‎ardente → ‎aguardente

• Hyphenation of enclitic pronouns

  ‎punir + ‎lo → ‎puni-lo

  ‎ver + ‎me + ‎o → ‎vê-me-o

• Hyphenation of the adverbs mal and bem. It can be dropped to follow the pronunciation

  ‎bem + ‎aventurança → ‎bem-aventurança (bem.a.ven.tu.ran.ça)

  ‎mal + ‎logrado → ‎mal-logrado (mal.lo.gra.do)

  ‎mal + ‎logrado → ‎malogrado (ma.lo.gra.do)

The Acordo Ortográfico de 1945...

• Source: Portal da Língua Portuguesa

The 1973 modification to the Acordo Ortográfico de 1945...

• Source: Portuguese Wikisource

The 1943 Portuguese Orthographic Form was a reform established by the Brazilian Academy of Letters for the subsequent creation of the Vocabulário Ortográfico da Língua Portuguesa.

• Source: Portuguese Wikisource

• ⟨k⟩, replaced with ⟨c⟩ or ⟨qu⟩ in all words except for symbols and terms derived from foreign names.

  vodka → vodca

• ⟨w⟩, replaced with ⟨u⟩ or ⟨v⟩ in all words except for symbols and terms derived from foreign names.

  walsa → valsa

• ⟨y⟩, replaced with ⟨i⟩ in any word in all words except for symbols and terms derived from foreign names

  lagryma → lágrima

• Respelling of ⟨ch⟩ (/k/) with ⟨qu⟩ before ⟨e⟩, ⟨u⟩; with ⟨c⟩ before other letters.

  cherubim → querubim

• Respelling of ⟨ph⟩ (/f/) with ⟨f⟩.

  philosophia → filosofia

• Respelling of ⟨th⟩ (/t/) with ⟨t⟩.

  theatro → teatro

• Replacement of ⟨e⟩ with ⟨i⟩ and ⟨o⟩ with ⟨u⟩ in falling diphtongs.

  geraes → gerais

  pao → pau

  chapeo → chapéu

  • idéa was also changed to idéia, since it was pronounced with a diphthong.
  • Words where ⟨oe⟩ and ⟨ue⟩ represented hiatus rather than a diphthong, such as abençoe and cultue, were not affected.

• Removal of ⟨h⟩ in initial position if unetymological.

  hombro → ombro (from Old Galician-Portuguese ombro)

• Removal of ⟨h⟩ within words.

  sahir → sair

  exhaurir → exaurir

  • ⟨h⟩ was also removed from non-hyphenated compounds.

    deshumano → desumano

• Removal of ⟨h⟩ in final position, except for interjections (e.g., ah!, oh!).

  Judah → Judá

• Change of spelling of enclisis and mesoclisis: prior to the reform, the forms on the left were commonly seen, though spellings more similar to the form on the right also existed.

  pegal-o → pegá-lo — pegar +‎ lo

  amal-a hei → amá-la-ei — amar +‎ lo +‎ hei / ei

  comel-o hia → comê-lo-ia — comer +‎ lo +‎ hia / ia

• Removal of doubled consonant letters, as long as it doesn't alter the word's pronunciation.

  accusar → acusar

  officio → ofício

  innovação → inovação

  ⟨cc⟩ was kept when pronounced /ks/, e.g., occipital.

• Removal of all silent consonants.

  optimo → ótimo

  assignatura → assinatura

  assumpto → assunto

• Removal of word-initial ⟨sc⟩.

  sciencia → ciência

  scena → cena

  Compounds with such words also lost the spelling ⟨sc⟩ if formed within the language, such as contracenar. However, it remained if the word was formed outside of the language, such as for consciência.

• Removal of the apostrophe ⟨’⟩ in contractions formed by a pronoun, article, or adverb and the prepositions a, de, em and per / por. Prior to the reform, forms with apostrophes were commonly seen, though forms without them were also used.

  d’ahi → daí (from de +‎ ahi / aí)

  d’aqui → daqui (from de +‎ aqui)

  n’ella → nele (from em +‎ ella / ela)

  • It was kept to indicate deliberate elision of a letter exclusively in poetry, as well as in compounds with d’.

    esp’rança (from esperança)

    mãe-d’água

• Change in the spelling of crasis to use a grave accent instead of an acute one.

  á → à (from a +‎ a)

  áquele → àquele (from a +‎ aquele)

  áqueloutro → àqueloutro (from a +‎ aqueloutro)

  This was likely for distinction from other newly added accent marks.

• Accentuation of oxytones ending in ⟨a⟩, ⟨e⟩, or ⟨o⟩, either alone or followed by ⟨s⟩ — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the vowel’s height.

  cajá

  jacaré

  dendê

  seridó

  trisavô

  These accents were already in frequent use prior to the reform, even for words ending in ⟨i⟩, ⟨u⟩; these were, in a sense, removed with this reform.

• Accentuation of oxytones ending in ⟨em⟩ or ⟨ens⟩ (plural) — with an acute accent ⟨´⟩. Monosyllables were an exception and did not receive accents.

  parabéns

  também

  but, bem

• Accentuation of plural verb forms derived from ter, vir — with a circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent.

  vem, convém — vêm, convêm

  tem, contém — têm, contêm

• Accentuation of paroxytones ending in ⟨i⟩ or ⟨u⟩, either alone or followed by ⟨s⟩ — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  lápis

  tênis

  íris

  bônus

  júri

• Accentuation of paroxytones ending in a nasal monophthong, either by itself or followed by ⟨s⟩ (⟨ã~an~ans⟩, ⟨em~en~ens⟩, ⟨om~on~ons⟩, ⟨im~ins⟩, ⟨um~uns⟩) — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  órfã

  bênção

• Accentuation of paroxytones ending in a diphthong, either by itself or followed by ⟨s⟩ — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  fáceis

• Accentuation of paroxytones ending in ⟨l, n, r, x⟩ — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  âmbar

  éter

  hífen

  córtex

  alúmen

  Note that the only paroxytones spelled with word-final ⟨m⟩ are verb forms such as pegam, houvessem. These do not receive accents.

• Accentuation of verbal forms ending in ⟨eem⟩ — with a circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent on the first ⟨e⟩.

  vêem

  lêem

• Accentuation of words ending in ⟨oo⟩, alone or followed by ⟨s⟩ — with a circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent on the first ⟨o⟩.

  vôo

  enjôo

• Accentuation of all proparoxytones — with an acute ⟨´⟩ or circumflex ⟨^⟩ accent, according to the stressed vowel’s height.

  lâmina

  exército

  límpido

  fôlego

  úmbrico

• Accentuation of stressed open ⟨oi⟩ (/ɔj/) ⟨eu⟩ (/ɛw/), ⟨ei⟩ (/ɛj/) anywhere in the word — with an acute ⟨´⟩ accent.

  jibóia

  lençóis

  céu

  idéia

  papéis

• Accentuation of stressed ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ in hiatus — with an acute ⟨´⟩ accent. However, the accent is not included if followed by ⟨nh⟩, or if the following letter is ⟨l, m, n, r, z⟩ and part of the same syllable.

  cafeína (ca-fe-i'-na)

  saúde (sa-u-de)

  caí (ca-i)

  but, tainha (ta-i-nha)

• Optional indication (chiefly in poetry), of unstressed ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ in hiatus — with a trema ⟨¨⟩.

  vaïdade (va-i-da-de)

  saüdade (sa-u-da-de)

• Use of differential accent:
  • For pairs of stressed words differing in vowel height that would otherwise be homographs — with a circumflex ⟨^⟩ on the word with a close vowel.

    rego (verb, /ɛ/) — rêgo (noun, /e/)

    esse (noun, /ɛ/) — êsse (pronoun, /e/)

    sobre (verb, /ɛ/) — sôbre (noun, /e/)

  • Additionally, to distinguish stressed words from their unstressed would-be homographs:

    côa (verb and noun, /ˈo/) — coa (contraction, /w/)

    pára (verb, /ˈa/) — para (preposition, /ɐ~a/)

    pélo (verb, /ˈɛ/) — pelo (contraction, /e/) — pêlo (noun, /ˈe/)

    péla (verb, /ˈɛ/) — pela (contraction, /ˈe/)

    pólo (noun, /ˈɔ/) — polo (contraction, /u~o/) — pôlo (noun, /ˈo/)

    péra (noun, /ˈɛ/) — pera (contraction, /ɛ/) — pêra (noun, /ˈe/)

    quê (stressed pronoun, /ˈe/) — que (various, unstressed; /i/)

    Includes the derived forms porque, porquê.

• When a word was suffixed with mente or any of many prefixes starting in ⟨z⟩ (e.g., -zão, -zinho, -zeiro), -zeira) , acute ⟨´⟩ accents get changed to grave ⟨`⟩. Circumflex ⟨^⟩ accents remain unaltered.

  avòzinha (from avó)

  dendêzeiro (from dendê)

  sòzinho (from só)

  terrìvelmente (from terrível)

  cortêsmente (from cortês)

  sòmente (from só)

• Hyphenation of words whose parts are phonetically independent. Some terms are kept without it, but no reasoning is given.

  ‎pára + ‎raios → ‎pára-raios

  ‎água + ‎ardente → ‎aguardente

• Hyphenation of enclitic pronouns

  ‎punir + ‎lo → ‎puni-lo

  ‎ver + ‎me + ‎o → ‎vê-me-o

• Hyphenation of the adverbs mal and bem. It can be dropped to follow the pronunciation

  ‎bem + ‎aventurança → ‎bem-aventurança (bem.a.ven.tu.ran.ça)

  ‎mal + ‎logrado → ‎mal-logrado (mal.lo.gra.do)

  ‎mal + ‎logrado → ‎malogrado (ma.lo.gra.do)

The 1971 modification to the 1943 Portuguese Orthographic Form...

• Source: Portuguese Wikisource

The Portuguese Language Orthographic Agreement of 1990 is an international treaty and the latest reform on the Portuguese orthography, affecting all Portuguese-speaking countries.

• Source: Portuguese Wikisource

The 1945 spelling reform was originally an agreement between Brazil and Portugal, but its implementation in Brazil fell through.