Different words in Spanish and Portuguese

First release , plus many later additions

Introduction:

Disregarding pronunciation differences, Spanish and Portuguese are very similar languages. A large proportion of the vocabulary, including conjugated verbs, of each language can be derived from the other by simple transformation rules.

However, quite a few often-used words are different. I am compiling a list of them here.

Lexical differences

The idea is to include only words with a different etymological background here. Some words seem very different at the surface, but the difference can easily be explained by transformations in the course of each language's history.

Next is a list of words that are not included, and the reason why not.

Spanish word Portuguese word Reason for non-inclusion
mujermulherSpanish j corresponds regularly to Portuguese lh
hijo, hilo, hablar, hacerfilho, fio, falar, fazer Spanish h corresponds regularly to Portuguese (and Latin!) f
hallaracharLatin: afflāre, which in Vulgar Latin had a variant *faflāre after internal consonant spread. This regularly developed into the Spanish word.
solo, hilosó, fioPortuguese loss of l between vowels
cena, tenerceia, terPortuguese loss of n between vowels
solanosoãoPortuguese loss of l between vowels;
n between a and o is lost but nasalises the diphthong
playapraiaLatin pl regularly developed into pr in Portuguese
llorarchorarLatin pl regularly developed into ll in Spanish, and into ch in Portuguese

So here are the words that are included:

Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
todavía, aúnaindastill, yet
 
pueblo, aldeaaldeiavillage
pueblopovopeople
 
romeroalecrimrosemary
cifra, guarismo, dígitoalgarismodigit
redondeoarredondamentorounding (of numbers)
aduanaalfândega customs (at port of entry)
desayunopequeno almoçobreakfast
balsajangada, balsaraft
columpio, mecedorbaloiço, balouçoswing (Italian: altalena)
mariposaborboleta, mariposabutterfly
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
cochecarrocar
roblecarvalho (roble, alvarinho)oak
temprano, prontocedoearly
chá 8tea
olorcheiro, odorsmell
trencomboiotrain
 
bailardançarto dance
bailedançadance
enfermo, malodoentesick, ill
enfermedaddoençaillness
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
dondeondewhere
dedondedondefrom where
 
menúementamenu
mientrasenquantowhile
olvidaresquecerto forget
cuchillo faca knife
cuchara, cucharilla colher spoon
cerrarfechar, cerrarclose
quedar ficarto stay, to remain
caercairto fall
caídaquedafall (the act of falling)
 
películafilmefilm
pollo frango chicken
botellagarrafa, botelhabottle
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
amaramarto love
quererquererto want
querergostar deto love
gustargostar deto love, to like; different usage 1 5
 
guitarraviola 2, violão 3 4 Spanish guitar
guitarra portuguesaguitarraPortuguese guitar
 
cenarjantarhave a late dinner
ventanajanelawindows
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
ancholargowide
anchuralargurawidth
largocompridolong
larguracomprimentolength
complementocomplementocomplement
subjuntivo (conjuntivo) conjuntivo (subjuntivo) subjunctive mode
 
subastahasta, leilãoauction
recordar, acordarlembrar, recordarremind, remember
despertaracordarwake up
aleaciónligaalloy
basuralixowaste, garbage
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
tiendalojashop
tiendatendatent
 
lejoslongefar away
cercapertoclose by
 
morir (single r; ‑ir verb) morrer (double r; ‑er verb) die
morarmorarlive, dwell
vivir (-ir verb)viver (-er verb)live
 
talleroficina(car) workshop, garage
oficina, escritorio escritóriooffice
cubiertotalhercutlery, flatware, silverware, dining utensils
carniceríatalhobutcher, butcher’s
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
anteayeranteontemthe day before yesterday
ayer por la mañanaontem de manhãyesterday morning
anoche, ayer por la nocheontem à noiteyesterday evening
ayerontemyesterday
por la nocheà noite 6in the evening
por la nochede noite (à noite) 6at night
por la mañanade manhãin the morning
mañanamanhãmorning
mañanaamanhãtomorrow
mañana por la mañanaamanhã de manhãtomorrow morning
pasado mañanadepois de amanhãthe day after tomorrow
 
albahaca manjericãobasil
 
másmaismore
peromasbut
perrocãodog
 
pasta massa pasta
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
cambiar mudar 5 to change
 
nadanadanothing
nadieninguémnobody
alguiénalguémsomebody
 
nidoninhonest
niñomeninochild, boy
niño, niñacriançachild
 
graciasobrigadothank you
gafas, anteojosóculosglasses
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
escenario, tabladopalcostage (in a theater)
 
quizá, quizáspode sermaybe, perhaps
talveztal vezmaybe, perhaps
 
valepoisright, OK
aunqueporém, contudo, no entanto, etc. however
sin embargoporém, contudo, no entanto, etc. however
 
ahorrarpouparsave
regaloprendagift, present
jamónpresuntoham
 
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
buscarprocurar, encontrar(try to) find
ir por, buscar, sacarbuscargo get
encontrar, hallarencontrarfind
pensaracharhave the opinion
 
habitación, dormitorioquarto(hotel)room
vivienda, casa, moradahabitaçãohouse
calleruastreet
teléfonotelefone telephone; same origin, almost the same word, but different stress
faldasaiaskirt
sopa, potajesopa 7soup
haber + participioter + particípio (see grammars and my article)
 
rojovermelhored
moradoroxopurple
 
volvervoltarreturn
tener ganaster vontadeto feel like (doing)
Spanish word Portuguese word English meaning
 


Note 1:

en I love you = pt Gosto de ti

en I like you = es (Tú) me gustas a mí, (tú) me gustas, me gustas tú.

Confer this song text by Manu Chao.

Note 2:

Confer the es vihuela, which is clearly cognate with pt viola, and denotes an old guitar-like shaped instrument.

Note 3:

Violão is more likely to be used in pt-BR than in pt-PT.

Note 4:

Note that in pt-BR violinista is a violin player, but a violonista is a guitar player.

Note 5:

In many cases, both words do exist in both languages, but the frequency of use and the shades of meaning are rather different.

Note 6:

This difference between Portuguese ‘à noite’ and ‘de noite’ is rather complicated, as becomes clear from this discussion, which also involves Galician and possible interference from Spanish among bilingual speakers of that language.

From one of the clearer contributions there I gathered this:

À noite se opõe geralmente a de manhã.
De noite se opõe geralmente a de dia.

So ‘à noite’ stresses the difference with ‘in the morning’, while ‘denoite’ stresses the difference with ‘by day, during the daytime’.

Note 7:

The word ‘potagem’ exists in Brazilian Portuguese, but I do not find it in dictionaries from Portugal.

Note 8:

The national Portuguese TV station RTP has a very nice weekly program about the Portuguese language, called Cuidado com a Língua (be careful with the language). In the Nov 17, 2008 edition, it is explained why Spanish has “té” (cf. English tea, Dutch thee, French thé, etc.) but Portuguese has “chá”: Portuguese took the word from Mandarin Chinese, the other languages have it from Fukien (other sources say Amoy), which is probably a form of Min Nan. See also Min Nan in Wikipedia.


I have a feeling there must be many more such words, so suggestions and corrections will be appreciated.

See also these false friends.

See also this list of Galician-Portuguese words.

10 August 2015:
Fernando Venâncio compiled a list of links to other such lists of false friends between Spanish and Portuguese. It also mentions studies about the subject.