Similar words in Portuguese and English

Portuguese is a relatively easy language for English speakers to learn. That’s in part because Portuguese and English have many similar vocabulary words.

If you look at the thousand most common Portuguese words, you notice that quite a few are similar to their English translations.

Let’s start by looking at six groups of Portuguese words that are similar to their English equivalents (within each group, the spelling differences follow similar patterns).

• Group 1: nouns like “liberdade” (liberty), “universidade” (university), and “possibilidade” (possibility)
• Group 2: nouns like “perfeição” (perfection), “comunicação” (communication), and “educação” (education)
• Group 3: nouns like “inteligência” (intelligence), existência (existence), and “excelência” (excellence)
• Group 4: adjectives like “comparável” (comparable), “honorável” (honorable), and “portável” (portable)
• Group 5: adjectives like “público” (public), “científico” (scientific), and “específico” (specific)
• Group 6: adverbs like “recentemente” (recently), “exatamente” (exactly), and “parcialmente” (partially)

Now let’s go over these groups and explain the Latin origin of these vocabulary terms while giving more examples.

Similar Portuguese and English words from Latin terms ending in -tas

Many Portuguese nouns that end in “-dade” come from Latin nouns that end in “-tas”.

Some of these Latin words have been assimilated into English as loanwords from French. The “-tas” ending in Latin changed to “-té” in French, which then evolved to “-ty” in English.

The table below shows examples of words in Portuguese and English that are similar and originate from Latin terms ending in “-tas.”

Table: Latin-derived portuguese words ending in "-dade" which are similar to Latin-derived English words ending in "-ty"

English	Portuguese	Latin
liberty	liberdade	libertas
simplicity	simplicidade	simplicitas
quantity	quantidade	quantitas
quality	qualidade	qualitas
security	seguridade	securitas
reality	realidade	realitas
possibility	possibilidade	possibilitas
university	universidade	universitas
celebrity	celebridade	celebritas
opportunity	oportunidade	opportunitas
credibility	credibilidade	credibilitas
community	comunidade	communitas
difficulty	dificuldade	difficultas
activity	atividade	activitas
dignity	dignidade	dignitas
probability	probabilidade	probabilitas
variety	variedade	varietas
utility	utilidade	utilitas
proximity	proximidade	proximitas
serenity	serenidade	serenitas
agility	agilidade	agilitas
fragility	fragilidade	fragilitas
morality	moralidade	moralitas
stability	estabilidade	stabilitas
vitality	vitalidade	vitalitas
humanity	humanidade	humanitas
festivity	festividade	festivitas
diversity	diversidade	diversitas
continuity	continuidade	continuitas
sincerity	sinceridade	sinceritas
property	propriedade	proprietas
clarity	claridade	claritas
immensity	imensidade	immensitas
sensitivity	sensibilidade	sensibilitas
familiarity	familiaridade	familiaritas
hospitality	hospitalidade	hospitalitas
civility	civilidade	civilitas
vanity	vaidade	vanitas
severity	severidade	severitas
humility	humildade	humilitas

Similar Portuguese and English words from Latin terms ending in -tio

Many Portuguese nouns that end with “-ção” originate from Latin words that end with “-tio”. Again, some of these Latin words have entered English as loanwords from French.

Table: Latin-derived portuguese words ending in "-ção" which are similar to Latin-derived English words ending in "-tion"

English	Portuguese	Latin
perfection	perfeição	perfectio
communication	comunicação	communicatio
condition	condição	conditio
collection	coleção	collectio
production	produção	productio
contemplation	contemplação	contemplatio
prediction	predição	praedictio
verification	verificação	verificatio
accumulation	acumulação	accumulatio
occupation	ocupação	occupatio
evolution	evolução	evolutio
initiation	iniciação	initiatio
admiration	admiração	admiratio
justification	justificação	iustificatio
education	educação	educatio
introduction	introdução	introductio
celebration	celebração	celebratio
option	opção	optio
explanation	explicação	explicatio
edition	edição	editio
description	descrição	descriptio
satisfaction	satisfação	satisfactio
navigation	navegação	navigatio
conjugation	conjugação	coniugatio
imagination	imaginação	imaginatio
discretion	discrição	discretio
competition	competição	competitio
protection	proteção	protectio
solution	solução	solutio
institution	instituição	institutio
consideration	consideração	consideratio
translation	translação	translatio
modification	modificação	modificatio
interpretation	interpretação	interpretatio
abbreviation	abreviação	abbreviatio
generation	geração	generatio
conservation	conservação	conservatio
decoration	decoração	decoratio
information	informação	informatio

Portuguese words ending in “-ência” or “-ância”

Another group of Portuguese and English words share similarities and can be traced back to Latin terms ending in “-entia” or “-antia”. In Portuguese, these words end in “-ência” or “-ância”, while in English, they end in “-ence” or “-ance”.

Table: Similar words in Portuguese and English which are derived from Latin words ending in “-entia” or “-antia”

English	Portuguese	Latin
occurrence	ocorrência	occurrentia
prudence	prudência	prudentia
existence	existência	existentia
conscience	consciência	conscientia
arrogance	arrogância	arrogantia
ignorance	ignorância	ignorantia
consequence	consequência	consequentia
sequence	sequência	sequentia
patience	paciência	patientia
science	ciência	scientia
residence	residência	residentia
intelligence	inteligência	intelligentia
efficiency	eficiência	efficientia
surveillance	vigilância	vigilantia
absence	ausência	absentia
excellence	excelência	excellentia
experience	experiência	experientia
distance	distância	distantia
convenience	conveniência	convenientia
appearance	aparência	apparentia
circumstance	circunstância	circumstantia
resistance	resistência	resistentia

Similarities in Portuguese and English words derived from Latin adjectives ending in “-abilis”

Another group of Portuguese and English words sharing similarities can be traced back to Latin adjectives ending in “-abilis”. The Latin suffix “-abilis” gave rise to the Portuguese suffix “-ável” and the English suffix “-able”.

Table: Similar words in Portuguese and English which are derived from Latin words ending in “-abilis”.

English	Portuguese	Latin
comparable	comparável	comparabilis
reasonable	razoável	rationabilis
durable	durável	durabilis
honorable	honorável	honorabilis
inexorable	inexorável	inexorabilis
abominable	abominável	abominabilis
intolerable	intolerável	intolerabilis
portable	portável	portabilis
mutable	mutável	mutabilis
stable	estável	stabilis
miserable	miserável	miserabilis
sociable	sociável	sociabilis
communicable	comunicável	communicabilis
vulnerable	vulnerável	vulnerabilis
impenetrable	impenetrável	impenetrabilis
formidable	formidável	formidabilis

Latin “-icus” adjectives and their derivatives in Portuguese and English

One can also observe a set of similar words in Portuguese and English that come from Latin adjectives ending in “-icus”. When both languages have derived their vocabulary from one of these Latin words, the Portuguese word usually ends in “-ico”, whereas the English word ends in “-ic”.

Table: Portuguese and English cognates derived from Latin words ending in “-icus”

English	Portuguese	Latin
specific	específico	specificus
authentic	autêntico	authenticus
aquatic	aquático	aquaticus
pacific	pacífico	pacificus
fanatic	fanático	fanaticus
exotic	exótico	exoticus
historic	histórico	historicus
public	público	publicus
economic	económico	oeconomicus
problematic	problemático	problematicus
scientific	científico	scientificus
scholastic	escolástico	scholasticus
honorific	honorífico	honorificus
atlantic	atlântico	atlanticus

Portuguese adverbs which are similar to English adverbs

Adverbs are another grammatical category in which there are many similar vocabulary words between Portuguese and English.

Many Portuguese adverbs, particularly those formed from adjectives, end with the suffix “-mente”, while many English adverbs end with the suffix “-ly”.

Table: Examples of Portuguese adverbs which are similar to English adverbs

English	Portuguese
completely	completamente
totally	totalmente
recently	recentemente
certainly	certamente
probably	provavelmente
especially	especialmente
finally	finalmente
extremely	extremamente
immediately	imediatamente
initially	inicialmente
exactly	exatamente
generally	geralmente
absolutely	absolutamente
sincerely	sinceramente
properly	propriamente
directly	directamente
constantly	constantemente
basically	basicamente
partially	parcialmente
curiously	curiosamente
correctly	corretamente
considerably	consideravelmente
seriously	seriamente
periodically	periodicamente
eternally	eternamente
exceptionally	excepcionalmente
intensely	intensamente
doubly	duplamente
occasionally	ocasionalmente
accidentally	acidentalmente
consciously	conscientemente
collectively	coletivamente

The Influence of Latin on Portuguese and English

Portuguese, being a Romance language, descended from Latin, and as a result, a large part of its vocabulary directly originates from Latin words. English, on the other hand, has a more complicated relationship with Latin.

As a Germanic language, English did not evolve from Latin. But English does contain many Latin-derived vocabulary words. The main reason is that the Norman Conquest of England in the 11th century brought many French words into English. And, French being a Romance language, many of those French words come from Latin.

So, while Portuguese has a larger Latin vocabulary than English, both languages have a fair amount of similar vocabulary.

Minor spelling differences among words that are similar between Portuguese and English

In addition to changes in endings, some Portuguese and English words that share common origins may have minor spelling differences.

For example, double consonants in Latin words often disappear in Portuguese, as seen in terms like “oportunidade” (from “opportunitas”) and “comunidade” (from “communitas”).

In contrast, English often keeps double letters from Latin words, as in “opportunity” and “community”.

Additionally, some Portuguese words may change the letter “c” to “g” or drop it altogether, as in “seguridade” (from “securitas”) and “atividade” (from “activitas”).