matar
Portuguese, verb/maˈta(ʁ)/
matar is spelled M-A-T-A-R (5 letters) and appears 93 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 1,045th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Matar is a Portuguese verb meaning “to kill (to cause to die)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “causar morte, tirar a vida”.
What does matar mean in English?
verb
- 1
to kill (to cause to die)
Mataram-no a tiros!
- 2
to kill; to eradicate; to destroy
Matou-lhe as esperanças
- 3
informalto kill (to cause extreme pain, distress or exhaustion in)
Minhas pernas estão me matando
- 4
to kill (to write a story that conveys the death of)
Hobbes matara o positivismo acerca da revolução.
- 5
to satisfy, to satiate, to quench (to fulfil an emotional or physiological need)
Antes de matar meu desejo de caminhar, preciso matar minha sede.
- 6
to commit suicide
Ela matou-se com a faca.
- 7
to break one's back (to make a great effort)
O homem se matava para sustentar a família.
- 8
colloquialto spend [a period of time] doing unimportant things
A escola ficou fechada hoje; tive o dia inteiro para matar.
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
verb: 1. causar morte, tirar a vida 2. aparar amortecendo o movimento pela interposição e choque de 3. resolver, finalizar 4. saciar, satisfazer
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 matar
- mato first-person present singular
- matei first-person preterite singular
- matado participle past
- morto participle past short-form
- matares infinitive second-person singular
- matarmos first-person infinitive plural
- matardes infinitive plural second-person
- matarem infinitive plural third-person
- matando gerund
- mortos masculine participle past
- morta feminine participle past
- mortas feminine participle past
- matados long-form masculine participle
- matada feminine long-form participle
- matadas feminine long-form participle
- matas indicative present second-person
- mata indicative present singular
- matamos first-person indicative plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce matar?
- Brazil /maˈta(ʁ)/
- Brazil [maˈta(h)]
- /maˈta(ɾ)/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to matar
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is matar in Portuguese?
matar appears 93 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).