decalque
Portuguese, noun/deˈkaw.ki/
decalque is spelled D-E-C-A-L-Q-U-E (8 letters) and appears about once in every 6 million words in written Portuguese, the 80,231st most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Decalque is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “tracing” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a first/third-person singular present subjunctive of decalcar. The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “imitação”.
What does decalque mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinetracing
- 2
masculinecalque (a word formed by word-for-word translation of a word in another language)
- 3
masculinesticker (an adhesive label or decal)
verb
- 1
first/third-person singular present subjunctive
- 2
third-person singular imperative
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
noun: 1. imitação 2. cópia de uma imagem em papel vegetal, a fim de reproduzi-la posteriormente em outro local
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of decalque
- decalques plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce decalque?
- Brazil /deˈkaw.ki/
- Brazil [deˈkaʊ̯.ki]
- Portugal /dɨˈkal.kɨ/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to decalque
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is decalque in Portuguese?
decalque appears about once in every 6 million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).