fulano

See also: Fulano

Italian

Adjective

fulano (feminine fulana, masculine plural fulani, feminine plural fulane)

1. (relational) Fula

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• Fulano (pre-1990 spelling)

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish Fulano, from Arabic فُلَان (fulān).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /fuˈlɐ̃.nu/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /fuˈlɐ̃.nu/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /fuˈlɐ.no/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fuˈlɐ.nu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /fuˈlɐ.nu/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /fuˈla.nu/

• Rhymes: -ɐnu
• Hyphenation: fu‧la‧no

Noun

fulano m (plural fulanos)

1. what's-his-name; so-and-so

Usage notes

The Orthographic Agreement of 1990 prescribes the spelling of fulano, beltrano, and sicrano in lowercase, presumably due to the fact that the words do not refer to an individual. This was changed in comparison to the previous spelling standard for European Portuguese (the Orthographic Agreement of 1945), which explicitly mentioned Fulano, Beltrano, and Sicrano as being capitalized when taking the place of a given name.

See also

• beltrano
• sicrano

Further reading

• “fulano”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “fulano”, in Dicionário infopédia da Lingua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “fulano”, in Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisboa: Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, 2001–2026
• “fulano”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026
• “fulano”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish fulano, fulán, from Arabic فُلَان (fulān).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fuˈlano/ [fuˈla.no]
• Rhymes: -ano
• Syllabification: fu‧la‧no

Proper noun

fulano m (plural fulanos, feminine fulana, feminine plural fulanas)

1. alternative letter-case form of Fulano, what's-his-name, so-and-so
2. (derogatory) guy, dude
3. (derogatory) friend, buster, pal, buddy (sarcastic form of address used to warn someone)

Derived terms

• fulanito

Further reading

• “fulano”, 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