Portuguese

Alternative forms

• -aõ (obsolete)

Suffix

-ão m ‎(feminine -ona, plural -ões, feminine plural -onas)

1. forms the augmentative of nouns
   1. forms nouns, from nouns denoting things, meaning “big thing,” usually but not necessarily with the same gender

      livro ‎(“book”) + ‎-ão → ‎livrão ‎(“big book”)

      janela ‎(“window”) + ‎-ão → ‎janelona ‎(“big window”)

   2. used to refer to things affectionately

      filho ‎(“son”) + ‎-ão → ‎filhão ‎(“used by a father to address his son, when he is proud of the son”)

      amigo ‎(“friend”) + ‎-ão → ‎amigão ‎(“a good friend; a true friend”)

   3. forms nouns, from nouns, implying that the suffixed noun is powerful or good

      carro ‎(“car”) + ‎-ão → ‎carrão ‎(“high-performance car”)

      calor ‎(“heat”) + ‎-ão → ‎calorão ‎(“intense heat”)

      soco ‎(“punch”) + ‎-ão → ‎socão ‎(“powerful punch”)

   4. in nouns that are formed from, or homonymous with, an adjective, it augments the quality expressed by the adjective

      cabeludo ‎(“long-haired (adjective); long-haired person (noun)”) + ‎-ão → ‎cabeludão ‎(“person with very long hair”)

2. forms the masculine of animal names (whether the animal refers to females or to males and females)

   abelha ‎(“bee (any sex)”) + ‎-ão → ‎abelhão ‎(“drone”)

   cabra ‎(“she-goat”) + ‎-ão → ‎cabrão ‎(“billy goat”)

3. forms nouns, from nouns, denoting an item of the same class as the suffixed noun, or which shares a characteristic with the suffixed noun

   calça ‎(“pants”) + ‎-ão → ‎calção ‎(“shorts”)

   agulha ‎(“needle”) + ‎-ão → ‎agulhão ‎(“sharp rock on a riverbed”)

   fogo ‎(“fire”) + ‎-ão → ‎fogão ‎(“stove”)

4. (slang) forms nouns, from a numeral X divisible by ten and greater than thirty, meaning “someone in his Xs”

   quarenta ‎(“forty”) + ‎-ão → ‎quarentão ‎(“someone in his forties”)

5. (Brazil, slang) forms nouns, from a numeral X, meaning “X amount of money” or “a bill worth X”

   cinco ‎(“five”) + ‎-ão → ‎cincão ‎(“five bucks”)

   mil ‎(“thousand”) + ‎-ão → ‎milão ‎(“a thousand bucks”)

6. (somewhat informal) forms the augmentative of adjectives, roughly equivalent to English quite

   grande ‎(“big”) + ‎-ão → ‎grandão ‎(“quite big”)

7. forms nouns, from a verb X, meaning a strong or violent instance of doing X

   arrastar ‎(“to drag”) + ‎-ão → ‎arrastão ‎(“an instance of violently dragging something”)

   puxar ‎(“to pull”) + ‎-ão → ‎puxão ‎(“a strong or violent pull”)

   pisar ‎(“to step”) + ‎-ão → ‎pisão ‎(“a strong or violent step”)

Synonyms

• (augmentative marker): -ácio, -aço, -alhão, -arrão, -ázio, -eirão
• (amount of money): pila

Antonyms

• (augmentative marker): -inho, -ito, -culo, -ete

Etymology 2

From Old Portuguese -ão, from Latin -ānus ‎(“-ian”).

Suffix

-ão m ‎(feminine -ã, plural -ãos, feminine plural -ãs)

1. (no longer productive) forms adjectives, from nouns and proper nouns referring to a location or type of location, meaning “of or pertaining to that location” and nouns meaning “someone from that location”

   vila ‎(“village”) + ‎-ão → ‎vilão ‎(“villager”)

   cidade ‎(“city”) + ‎-ão → ‎cidadão ‎(“citizen”)

   Alentejo ‎(“a region in Portugal”) + ‎-ão → ‎alentejão ‎(“relating to Alentejo”, “someone from Alentejo”)

Etymology 3

From Old Portuguese -an, from an, from Latin habent, third-person plural present indicative of habeō ‎(“I have”).

Suffix

-ão

1. forms the third-person plural future indicative, from the infinitive of verbs

   falar ‎(“to speak”) + ‎-ão → ‎falarão ‎(“(they) will speak”)

   comer ‎(“to eat”) + ‎-ão → ‎comerão ‎(“(they) will eat”)

   sorrir ‎(“to smile”) + ‎-ão → ‎sorrirão ‎(“(they) will smile”)

Etymology 4

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɐ̃w̃/ (paroxytone)

Suffix

-ão

1. Obsolete form of -am.

Usage notes

Some words ending in -ão pluralise as -ães. However, in these cases the -ão is not a suffix and derives from Old Portuguese -an, from Latin -ānem.

• cão ‎(“dog”) → cães ‎(“dogs”)
• pão ‎(“bread”) → pães ‎(“breads”)