portuguese
n. C / Un. the language spoken in Portugal, Brazil, and several other countries. It is also a word for a person from Portugal.
n. a Romance language originating in the Iberian Peninsula; also used to denote a person of Portuguese nationality or descent.
She is learning Portuguese because she wants to visit Brazil.
While the grammar remains similar, the pronunciation of Portuguese varies significantly between speakers from Lisbon and those from Rio de Janeiro.
The global spread of Portuguese during the Age of Discovery established it as a major lingua franca across parts of Africa, South America, and Asia.
From Portuguese português.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Uncountable when referring to the language; countable when referring to people from Portugal, though 'the Portuguese' is often used as a collective plural.
He speaks the PortugueseHe speaks PortugueseNames of languages do not take the definite article 'the' when used as the object of a verb like 'speak' or 'learn'.
Last updated May 2, 2026