A Romance language born in the Iberian northwest and spread by maritime empire — today the official language of Portugal, Brazil, and several African and Asian states.
Where it’s spoken
Brazilian Portuguese accounts for over 80% of native speakers. European Portuguese is the standard in Portugal and the African Lusophone states. The Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) coordinates linguistic and cultural cooperation across nine member states on four continents.
What it sounds like
Portuguese has a rich vowel system with nasalized vowels marked by tilde (ã, õ). European Portuguese is famously stress-timed with reduced unstressed syllables, giving it a “Slavic-sounding” rhythm. Brazilian Portuguese is more vowel-melodic and syllable-timed, with open vowels that linger.
How it’s written
Portuguese uses the Latin alphabet with cedilla (ç), tilde (ã, õ), acute, grave, and circumflex accents. A 1990 orthographic agreement harmonized spelling across CPLP nations, though implementation took decades.
History
Portuguese diverged from Galician in the 12th–14th centuries and became the language of the Age of Discovery, carrying creoles, loanwords, and grammatical structures around the world. The first Portuguese grammar was published in 1536.
Find more languages by letter
Portuguese starts with P and ends with E. Browse other languages along the same letter.
Languages that contain a letter from "Portuguese":