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palheta

Portuguese, noun/paˈʎe.tɐ/

palheta is a Portuguese feminine noun meaning “reed (vibrating part of the mouthpiece of some woodwind instruments)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a third-person singular present indicative of palhetar. The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “parte que vibra nos instrumentos musicais de sopro, formada por uma lâmina ou uma estrutura semelhante a uma…”.

What does palheta mean in English?

noun

  1. 1

    femininereed (vibrating part of the mouthpiece of some woodwind instruments)

  2. 2

    feminineplectrum; pick (small piece of material for plucking the strings)

  3. 3

    femininealternative form of paleta

  4. 4

    femininea slat of a Venetian blind

  5. 5

    femininea blade of a fan or propeller

noun

  1. 1

    masculineellipsis of chapéu-palheta (“boater”)

verb

  1. 1

    third-person singular present indicative

  2. 2

    second-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. parte que vibra nos instrumentos musicais de sopro, formada por uma lâmina ou uma estrutura semelhante a uma palha 2. pequeno objeto utilizado para tocar instrumentos musicais de cordas, principalmente quando estas são muito esticadas e rígidas; plectro 3. chapéu feito de palha 4. faísca, grão de ouro

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 palheta

  • palhetas plural

Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).

How do you pronounce palheta?

  • Brazil /paˈʎe.tɐ/
  • Portugal /pɐˈʎe.tɐ/
  • Brazil /paˈʎɛ.tɐ/

Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.

English words that translate to palheta

Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.

How common is palheta in Portuguese?

palheta appears 1.0 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).