duende
Portuguese, noun/duˈẽ.d͡ʒi/
duende is spelled D-U-E-N-D-E (6 letters) and appears 2.2 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 21,106th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Duende is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “a small humanoid creature who invades homes at night to carry out mischief and scare the residents” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “criatura do folclore ibérico, latino-americano e filipino”.
What does duende mean in English?
noun
- 1
masculinea small humanoid creature who invades homes at night to carry out mischief and scare the residents
- 2
masculineany small fictional humanoid, especially a mischievous or evil one
- 3
masculineChristmas elf (an elf that assists Santa Claus with the making, wrapping, delivery, etc., of presents)
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
noun: 1. criatura do folclore ibérico, latino-americano e filipino
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 duende
- duendes plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce duende?
- Brazil /duˈẽ.d͡ʒi/
- Brazil /ˈdwẽ.d͡ʒi/
- Portugal /ˈdwẽ.dɨ/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to duende
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is duende in Portuguese?
duende appears 2.2 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).