-zão

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See also: zao

Portuguese

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Etymology

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From -z- +‎ -ão. Akin to Spanish -zón.

Pronunciation

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Suffix

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-zão m (noun-forming suffix, plural -zões, feminine -zona, feminine plural -zonas)
-zão (adjective-forming suffix, feminine -zona, masculine plural -zões, feminine plural -zonas)

  1. Alternative form of -ão, used especially when the preceding letter is a semivowel or when the word is an oxytone. More generically, used in agglutination, after the entire word, rather than in a fusion.
    Antonym: -zinho
    café (coffee) + ‎-zão → ‎cafezão (big coffee)
    caqui (persimmon) + ‎-zão → ‎caquizão (big persimmon)
    (shovel) + ‎-zona → ‎pazona (big shovel)
    pão (bread) + ‎-zão → ‎pãozão (big bread)