poço

See also: poco, POCO, and póco

Old Spanish

poço

Alternative forms

• pozo

Etymology

Inherited from Latin puteus. Compare its written form with Portuguese poço

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpo.t͡so/

Noun

poço m (plural poços)

1. well (hole in the ground as a source of water or other fluids)
   • c. 1132, Cartularios de Valpuesta, doc 162

     (...) et abet se adimplir del poço de sancto Dominico per foro (...)

     And it is to be fulfilled from the well of Saint Dominic by charter.

Descendants

• Spanish: pozo

Portuguese

poço

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese poço, from Latin puteus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *paw- (“to strike”). Compare Galician pozo, Spanish pozo, Catalan pou, Occitan potz, French puits, Italian pozzo and Romanian puț.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.su/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.su/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.so/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.su/

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -osu
• Hyphenation: po‧ço

Noun

poço m (plural poços, metaphonic)

1. well

   Synonyms: (Angola, Brazil) cacimba, (Angola) quixima

2. pit

Usage notes

• Metaphony for this term is optional and all pronunciations are common. It is standard for speakers to maintain consistency between the feminine (see below) and the plural forms, but both /o/ and /ɔ/ for them are considered correct.

Derived terms

• poça

Further reading

• poço on the Portuguese Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^pt
• “poço”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “poço”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026