Study Resource: Brazilian Portuguese augmentatives reference sheet
Augmentatives are words for the “big” or “significant” version of something. Here we go through some common endings and some exceptional forms.
Full list of augmentative suffixes
The following endings are common augmentative suffixes in Brazilian Portuguese.
| Suffix | Example |
|---|---|
-ão | abelhão (meaning big bee) |
-ona | amigona (meaning big female friend) |
-lhão | barulhão (meaning big noise) |
-(z)arrão | bicharrão (meaning big animal) |
-eirão | boqueirão (meaning big mouth) |
-aça | barbaça (meaning big beard) |
-aço | jornalaço (meaning big newspaper) |
-ázio | balázio (meaning big bullet, big candy) |
-uça | dentuça (meaning big teeth) |
-anzil | corpanzil (meaning big body) |
-aréu | fogaréu (meaning big fire) |
-arra | bocarra (meaning big mouth) |
-orra | cabeçorra (meaning big head) |
-astro | poetastro (meaning big poet) |
-az | canaz (meaning big dog) |
Words that end in ‘-ão’ that are not augmentatives
Though -ão is a common augmentative suffix in Brazilian Portuguese, not all words with this ending are augmentatives.
irmão (meaning brother)
vulcão (meaning volcano)
mão (meaning hand)
perdão (meaning pardon)
gratidão (meaning gratitude)
descrição (meaning description)
paixão (meaning passion)
confusão (meaning confusion)
percepção (meaning perception)
expressão (meaning expression)
sessão (meaning session)
ação (meaning action)
reflexão (meaning reflection)
ambição (meaning ambition)
razão (meaning reason)
intenção (meaning intention)
alienação (meaning alienation)
discriminação (meaning discrimination)
satisfação (meaning satisfaction)
situação (meaning situation)
então (meaning then, so)
não (meaning no, not)
afeição (meaning affection)
opinião (meaning opinion)
discussão (meaning discussion)
decisão (meaning decision)
Full list of augmentative suffixes
The following Brazilian Portuguese nouns have more than one augmentative form each.
| Nouns | Augmentatives |
|---|---|
amigo (meaning friend) | amigão, amigaço, amigalhaço |
animal (meaning animal) | animalão, animalaço |
barba (meaning beard) | barbaca, barbona, barbão |
barulho (meaning noise) | barulheira, barulhão |
beiço (meaning lips) | beiçola, beiçorra |
bicho (meaning animal) | bichão, bicharrão |
bigode (meaning moustache) | bigodão, bigodaca |
boca (meaning mouth) | bocão, bocona, bocarra, bocaça, boqueirão |
cabeça (meaning head) | cabeção, cabeçona, cabeçorra |
cão (meaning dog) | cãozão, canzarrão, canaz |
cara (meaning face) | caraça, carantonha, carona, carão |
chapéu (meaning hat) | chapelão, chapeirão |
copo (meaning cup) | copão, coparrão, copaço |
corpo (meaning body) | corpão, corpanzil, corpaço |
dente (meaning tooth) | dentão, dentola, dentuça, dentilhão |
festa (meaning party) | festão, festança |
gato (meaning cat) | gatão, gatarrão |
homem (meaning man) | homão, homenzarrão, homenzão |
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