favela

See also: Favela and favëla

English

Rocinha, the largest hill favela in Rio de Janeiro

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fəˈvɛlə/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlə

Noun

favela (plural favelas)

2. A slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil.
   • 2008, Cedar Lewisohn, Street Art, Foreword, page 8:

     The favela is now the model for most of the world's cities, as vast numbers of people continue to migrate to them in order to survive.

   • 2012, Tim Edensor, Mark Jayne, Urban Theory Beyond the West: A World of Cities:

     security forces in November of 2010 stormed one of the city's most notorious favelas, the complex of the Morro do Alemão in the northern zone of the city

Translations

A slum in Brazil

• Arabic: فَافِيلَا (fāfēlā, fāvēlā)
• Bulgarian: фаве́ла f (favéla)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 法韋拉 / 法韦拉 (fǎwéilā)

• French: favela (fr) f
• Georgian: ფაველა (ka) (pavela)
• German: Favela (de)
• Greek: φαβέλα (el) (favéla)
• Hebrew: פָֿאבֶ֫לָה (favela)
• Italian: favela (it)
• Japanese: ファヴェーラ (favēra)
• Korean: 파벨라 (pabella)
• Macedonian: фа́вела f (fávela)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: favela m

  Nynorsk: favela m

• Persian: فاولا (fâvelâ)
• Polish: fawela (pl) f
• Portuguese: favela (pt) f
• Romanian: favelă f
• Russian: фаве́ла (ru) (favéla)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: фа̀вела f

  Latin: fàvela (sh) f

• Slovene: favẹ̑la f
• Spanish: favela (es) f
• Tamil: பவேலா (pavēlā)
• Turkish: favela (tr)
• Ukrainian: фаве́ла (favéla)

Anagrams

• Lafave

French

Etymology

From Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Noun

favela f (plural favelas)

1. favela (a slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil)

Italian

Etymology

From Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Noun

favela f (plural favele)

1. favela (a slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil)

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Noun

favela m (definite singular favelaen, indefinite plural favelae, definite plural favelane)

1. favela (a slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Noun

favela m (definite singular favelaen, indefinite plural favelaer or favelaar, definite plural favelaene or favelaane)

1. favela (a slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil)

Portuguese

favela

Etymology

The slum sense is named after the tree. The first favela was founded by veterans of the War of Canudos on Morro da Providência (Providence Hill). That hill was similar to a hill where a battle took place during the war, which had many favela trees. The name of the tree probably comes ultimately from a diminutive of Latin faba (“bean”). An alternative etymology may be favo +‎ -ela.

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɛlɐ

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /faˈvɛ.lɐ/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɐˈvɛ.lɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɐˈvɛ.lɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /fɐˈbɛ.lɐ/ [fɐˈβɛ.lɐ]

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: fa‧ve‧la

Noun

favela f (plural favelas)

1. a tree of species Cnidoscolus quercifolius, native to northeastern Brazil

   Synonym: faveleira

2. (Brazil) slum (dilapidated neighborhood)

   Synonyms: (Angola) musseque, (Brazil) morro, (Brazil, euphemistic) comunidade, (Mozambique) caniço, (Portugal) bairro de lata

Related terms

• favelado
• favelizar

Further reading

• “favela”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “favela”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Romansh

Alternative forms

• favella (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader)
• faviala (Sursilvan)
• faveala (Sutsilvan)

Etymology

From Latin fabella, diminutive of fābula, or from a derivative of Vulgar Latin *fabellāre.

Noun

favela f (plural favelas)

1. (Surmiran, poetic) language

Usage notes

Implies a strong emotional attachment. Used almost exclusively to refer to Romansch itself.

Synonyms

• lungatg

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fǎʋela/

Noun

fàvela f (Cyrillic spelling фа̀вела)

1. favela (a slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil)

Declension

Declension of favela

	singular	plural
nominative	favela	favele
genitive	favele	favela
dative	faveli	favelama
accusative	favelu	favele
vocative	favele / favelo	favele
locative	faveli	favelama
instrumental	favelom	favelama

Further reading

• “favela”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026

Slovene

Etymology

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faʋéːla/

Noun

favẹ̑la f

1. favela (a slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil)

   Nekatere šole sambe delujejo tudi v favelah. ― Some samba schools also operate in favelas.

Declension

The diacritics used in this section of the entry are non-tonal. If you are a native tonal speaker, please help by adding the tonal marks.

Feminine, a-stem
nom. sing.	favela
gen. sing.	favele
	singular	dual	plural
nominative (imenovȃlnik)	favela	faveli	favele
genitive (rodȋlnik)	favele	favel	favel
dative (dajȃlnik)	faveli	favelama	favelam
accusative (tožȋlnik)	favelo	faveli	favele
locative (mẹ̑stnik)	faveli	favelah	favelah
instrumental (orọ̑dnik)	favelo	favelama	favelami

Further reading

• “favela” in Slovar slovenskega knjižnega jezika - portal BOS

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese favela. Doublet of fabela.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faˈbela/ [faˈβ̞e.la]
• Rhymes: -ela
• Syllabification: fa‧ve‧la

Noun

favela f (plural favelas)

1. favela (a slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil)

Related terms

• favelizar

Further reading

• “favela”, 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

Turkish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English favela, from Brazilian Portuguese favela.

Noun

favela (definite accusative favelayı, plural favelalar)

1. favela (a slum or shantytown, especially in Brazil)

Declension

Declension of favela

singular plural nominative favela favelalar definite accusative favelayı favelaları dative favelaya favelalara locative favelada favelalarda ablative faveladan favelalardan genitive favelanın favelaların Possessive forms nominative singular plural 1st singular favelam favelalarım 2nd singular favelan favelaların 3rd singular favelası favelaları 1st plural favelamız favelalarımız 2nd plural favelanız favelalarınız 3rd plural favelaları favelaları definite accusative singular plural 1st singular favelamı favelalarımı 2nd singular favelanı favelalarını 3rd singular favelasını favelalarını 1st plural favelamızı favelalarımızı 2nd plural favelanızı favelalarınızı 3rd plural favelalarını favelalarını dative singular plural 1st singular favelama favelalarıma 2nd singular favelana favelalarına 3rd singular favelasına favelalarına 1st plural favelamıza favelalarımıza 2nd plural favelanıza favelalarınıza 3rd plural favelalarına favelalarına locative singular plural 1st singular favelamda favelalarımda 2nd singular favelanda favelalarında 3rd singular favelasında favelalarında 1st plural favelamızda favelalarımızda 2nd plural favelanızda favelalarınızda 3rd plural favelalarında favelalarında ablative singular plural 1st singular favelamdan favelalarımdan 2nd singular favelandan favelalarından 3rd singular favelasından favelalarından 1st plural favelamızdan favelalarımızdan 2nd plural favelanızdan favelalarınızdan 3rd plural favelalarından favelalarından genitive singular plural 1st singular favelamın favelalarımın 2nd singular favelanın favelalarının 3rd singular favelasının favelalarının 1st plural favelamızın favelalarımızın 2nd plural favelanızın favelalarınızın 3rd plural favelalarının favelalarının