paternal
Portuguese, adjective/pa.teʁˈnaw/
paternal is spelled P-A-T-E-R-N-A-L (8 letters) and appears about once in every 2 million words in written Portuguese, the 43,330th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Paternal is a Portuguese feminine adjective meaning “paternal, fatherly” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “relativo ao pai”.
What does paternal mean in English?
adjective
- 1
femininemasculinepaternal, fatherly
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. relativo ao pai
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 paternal
- paternais plural
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce paternal?
- Brazil /pa.teʁˈnaw/
- Brazil [pa.teɦˈnaʊ̯]
- /pa.teɾˈnaw/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
How common is paternal in Portuguese?
paternal appears about once in every 2 million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).