# -ão
## Portuguese
### Alternative forms

* -aõ (obsolete)
* -zão (especially after words stressed on the last syllable)

### Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese -on, from Latin -ōnem. Akin to Spanish -ón, Italian -one and French -on, compare Romanian -oi.

#### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈɐ̃w̃/ [ˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɐ̃w̃/
* Rhymes: -ɐ̃w̃

#### Suffix

-ão m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ões, feminine -ona, feminine plural -onas)
* forms the augmentative of nouns
    Synonyms: -ácio, -aço, -alhão, -arrão, -ázio, -eirão
    Antonyms: -inho, -ito, -culo, -ete
** forms nouns, from nouns denoting things, meaning “big thing,” usually but not necessarily with the same gender
    ‎livro (“book”) + ‎-ão → ‎livrão (“big book”)
    ‎janela (“window”) + ‎-ão → ‎janelona (“big window”)
** used to refer to things affectionately
    ‎filho (“son”) + ‎-ão → ‎filhão (“used by a father to address his son, when he is proud of the son”)
    ‎amigo (“friend”) + ‎-ão → ‎amigão (“a good friend; a true friend”)
** forms nouns, from nouns, implying that the suffixed noun is powerful or good
    ‎carro (“car”) + ‎-ão → ‎carrão (“high-performance car”)
    ‎calor (“heat”) + ‎-ão → ‎calorão (“intense heat”)
    ‎soco (“punch”) + ‎-ão → ‎socão (“powerful punch”)
** in nouns that are formed from, or homonymous with, an adjective, it augments the quality expressed by the adjective
    ‎cabeludo (“long-haired (adjective); long-haired person (noun)”) + ‎-ão → ‎cabeludão (“person with very long hair”)
* forms the masculine of animal names (whether the animal refers to females or to males and females)
    ‎abelha (“bee (any sex)”) + ‎-ão → ‎abelhão (“drone”)
    ‎cabra (“she-goat”) + ‎-ão → ‎cabrão (“billy goat”)
* forms nouns, from nouns, denoting an item of the same class as the suffixed noun, or which shares a characteristic with the suffixed noun
    ‎calça (“pants”) + ‎-ão → ‎calção (“shorts”)
    ‎agulha (“needle”) + ‎-ão → ‎agulhão (“sharp rock on a riverbed”)
    ‎fogo (“fire”) + ‎-ão → ‎fogão (“stove”)
* (slang) forms nouns, from a numeral X divisible by ten and greater than thirty, meaning “someone in his Xs”
    ‎quarenta (“forty”) + ‎-ão → ‎quarentão (“someone in his forties”)
* forms nouns, from a verb X, meaning a strong or violent instance of doing X
    ‎arrastar (“to drag”) + ‎-ão → ‎arrastão (“an instance of violently dragging something”)
    ‎puxar (“to pull”) + ‎-ão → ‎puxão (“a strong or violent pull”)
    ‎pisar (“to step”) + ‎-ão → ‎pisão (“a strong or violent step”)
* (informal, derogatory) forms nouns, from a verb X, meaning an agent of such verb
    ‎fugir (“to flee”) + ‎-ão → ‎fujão (“someone who flees from something”)
    ‎cagar (“to shit”) + ‎-ão → ‎cagão (“someone who shits upon something, a coward”)
    ‎mijar (“to piss”) + ‎-ão → ‎mijão (“someone who wets themselves”)
    ‎arregar (“to back off”) + ‎-ão → ‎arregão (“someone who backs off from a challenge, a quitter”)
* (Brazil, slang) forms nouns, from a numeral X, meaning “X amount of money” or “a bill worth X”
    ‎cinco (“five”) + ‎-ão → ‎cincão (“five bucks”)
    ‎mil (“thousand”) + ‎-ão → ‎milzão (“a thousand bucks”)

#### Suffix

-ão (adjective-forming suffix, feminine -ona, masculine plural -ões, feminine plural -onas)
* (somewhat informal) forms the augmentative of adjectives, roughly equivalent to English quite
    ‎grande (“big”) + ‎-ão → ‎grandão (“quite big”)

### Etymology 2

From Old Galician-Portuguese -ão, from Latin -ānus (“-ian”). Doublet of -ano.

#### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈɐ̃w̃/ [ˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɐ̃w̃/
* Rhymes: -ɐ̃w̃

#### Suffix

-ão m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ãos, feminine -ã, feminine plural -ãs) -ão (adjective-forming suffix, feminine -ã, masculine plural -ãos, feminine plural -ãs)
* (no longer productive) forms adjectives, nouns and proper nouns referring to a location or type of location, meaning “of or relating to that location” and nouns meaning “someone from that location”
    Synonyms: -ano, -ense
    ‎vila (“village”) + ‎-ão → ‎vilão (“villager”)
    ‎cidade (“city”) + ‎-ão → ‎cidadão (“citizen”)
    ‎Beira (“a region in Portugal”) + ‎-ão → ‎beirão (“relating to Beira”, “someone from Beira”)

### Etymology 3
#### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈɐ̃w̃/ [ˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɐ̃w̃/
* Rhymes: -ɐ̃w̃

#### Suffix

-ão m (noun-forming suffix, plural -ões)
* -on (forming nouns denoting subatomic particles)
    ‎magnete (“magnet”) + ‎-ão → ‎magnetão (“magneton”)

### Etymology 4

From Old Galician-Portuguese -an, from an (modern Portuguese: hão) from Latin habent, third-person plural present indicative of habeō (“to have”).

#### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /ˈɐ̃w̃/ [ˈɐ̃ʊ̯̃]
* (Portugal) IPA: /ˈɐ̃w̃/
* Rhymes: -ɐ̃w̃

#### Suffix

-ão
* forms the third-person plural future indicative, from the infinitive of verbs
    ‎falar (“to speak”) + ‎-ão → ‎falarão (“(they) will speak”)
    ‎comer (“to eat”) + ‎-ão → ‎comerão (“(they) will eat”)
    ‎sorrir (“to smile”) + ‎-ão → ‎sorrirão (“(they) will smile”)

### Etymology 5
#### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: (stress on the penultimate syllable) /ɐ̃w̃/ [ɐ̃ʊ̯̃]
* (Portugal) IPA: (stress on the penultimate syllable) /ɐ̃w̃/
* IPA: /ɐ̃w̃/ (paroxytone)

#### Suffix

-ão
* Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of -am. , now a common misspelling

### Usage notes

Words ending in -ão are pluralised differently depending on its origin:
* Those in which the suffix is derived from Latin -ōnem (including all masculine augmentatives), as well as words derived from French words ending in -on, Italian words ending in -one or Spanish words ending in -ón (all from Latin -ōnem as well), are pluralised with -ões.
* Those in which the suffix derives from Latin -ānus (“-ian”), as well as words derived from other Latin words ending in -ānus, such as mão and chão, are pluralised with -ãos.
* Some words ending in -ão pluralise as -ães. In these cases the -ão is either not a suffix and derives from Old Portuguese -an, from Latin -ānem, -anēs, or derived from an -an suffix in Old Gallician-Portuguese which has become assimilated regardless of its derivation.
** cão (“dog”) → cães (“dogs”), from Latin canem, canēs
** pão (“bread”) → pães (“breads”), from Latin pānem, pānēs
** capitão (“captain”) → capitães (“captains”), from Old Galician-Portuguese capitan, from Latin capitāneus
** alemão (“German”) → alemães (“German(s)”), from Old Galician-Portuguese aleman, from Latin Alemannus
* Some words have non-predictable pluralisations, for example:
** ancião (“elder”), aldeão (“villager”) and vilão (“villain”) may be pluralised with -ãos, -ões or -ães
** damão (“hyrax”) → damões (“hyraxes”), from French daman (“hyrax”), from Arabic دَمَان إِسْرَائِيل (damān ʔisrāʔīl).
** cafetão (“pimp”) → cafetões (“pimps”), from Lunfardo cáften

### See also

* -aço