-ção
See also: Appendix:Variations of "cao"
Portuguese
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Inherited from Latin -tiōnem. The suffix is in many cases a semi-learned form partially borrowed from Latin to make new words, but also corresponds with the old inherited form that it was based on (as evidenced by words such as coração, canção), which could also be -zão in some cases (e.g. razão, sazão).
Pronunciation
[edit]
- (Northern Portugal) IPA(key): /sõw/
Suffix
[edit]-ção f (noun-forming suffix, plural -ções)
- -tion
- Synonym: -mento
- comercializar (“to commercialize”) + -ção → comercialização (“commercialization”)
- beber (“to drink”) + -ção → bebeção (“drinking”)
- absolver (“to acquit”) + -ção → absolvição (“acquittal”)
- diluir (“to dilute”) + -ção → diluição (“dilution”)
- compor (“to compose”) + -ção → composição (“composition”)
- conter (“to restrain”) + -ção → contenção (“restrainment”)
Usage notes
[edit]Generally, this suffix is appended to the base verb by simply dropping the -r infinitive ending, but there are special cases:
- if the base verb ends with -or, it is replaced by -osi- (by analogy with posição, from Latin positio, from Latin positus);
- if the base verb ends with -ter, it is replaced by -ten- (from Latin tentus);
- after other 2nd-conjugation verbs, the -e- thematic vowel may be kept or replaced with -i-.
Some nouns ending with -ção and directly descending from Latin, despite being related to verbs, can't be surface-analyzed as containing this suffix due to their irregularity, e.g. reação, related to reagir.
Derived terms
[edit]Descendants
[edit]- → Konkani: -सांव (-sāuva)