detective
Portuguese, noun
detective is spelled D-E-T-E-C-T-I-V-E (9 letters) and appears 2.8 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 18,272nd most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Detective is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of detetive; still used where the agreement hasn’t come into effect…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “agente investigador de crimes”.
What does detective mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinepre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1990 in Portugal) of detetive; still used where the agreement hasn’t come into effect and may occur as a sporadic misspelling
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
noun: 1. agente investigador de crimes 2. pessoa cujo trabalho consiste em fazer inquéritos, seguir a pista de alguém, por conta de terceiros
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 detective
- detectives plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How common is detective in Portuguese?
detective appears 2.8 times per million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).