brasil

See also: Brasil

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /bɾaˈziw/ [bɾaˈziʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɾɐˈzil/ [bɾɐˈziɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɾɐˈzil/ [bɾɐˈziɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɾɐˈzi.li/

• Audio (Brazil):

  (file)

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -iw, (Portugal) -il
• Hyphenation: bra‧sil
• Homophone: Brasil

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Vulgar Latin *brasa

Old Galician-Portuguese brasa

Portuguese brasa

Proto-Indo-European *-elis

Proto-Italic *-elis

Latin -īlislbor.

Portuguese -il

Portuguese brasil

From brasa (“ember”) + -il.

Adjective

brasil m or f (plural brasis)

1. (archaic) ember-coloured

Related terms

• Brasil
• pau-brasil

Noun

brasil m (plural brasis)

1. (archaic) ellipsis of pau-brasil (“brazilwood”)

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

Vulgar Latin *brasa

Old Galician-Portuguese brasa

Portuguese brasa

Proto-Indo-European *-elis

Proto-Italic *-elis

Latin -īlislbor.

Portuguese -il

Portuguese brasilder.

Portuguese Terra do Brasilellip.

Portuguese Brasil

Portuguese brasil

From Brasil.

Noun

brasil m (plural brasis)

1. (archaic) Brazilian native
   • c. 1628, Luís Figueira, “Prologo ao leitor [Prologue for the reader]”, in Arte da lingua Braſilica [Art of the Brasílica Language]‎^[1] (overall work in Portuguese), Lisbon: Manuel da Silva, unnumbered page:

     O goſto, & deſejo, que ſempre tiue de ſaber eſta lingua, pera ajudar a eſtes pobres Braſijs […]

     The pleasure and desire that I've always had of knowing this language, for helping these poor natives.

   • 1865, José de Alencar, “Carta ao Dr. Jaguaribe”, in Iracema: Lenda do Ceará, Rio de Janeiro: Typ. de Viana e Filhos, page 197:

     Pois talvez haja quem prefira a expressão rei do caminho, embora os brasis não tivessem rei, nem idéa de tal instituição.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “brasil”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “brasil”, in Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “brasil”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “brasil”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN

Spanish

Etymology

From brasa + -il.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɾaˈsil/ [bɾaˈsil]
• Rhymes: -il
• Syllabification: bra‧sil

Noun

brasil m (plural brasiles)

1. brazil, brazilwood

Related terms

• Brasil
• brasilete

Further reading

• “brasil”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025