são
The verdict
“são” is in the everyday core of Portuguese, ranked #34 in Portuguese word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #34
- frequency rank, Portuguese
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
Dominant Wiktionary sense: saudável
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | são |
| Language | Portuguese |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈsɐ̃w̃/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #34 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “são” sits in Portuguese frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The Portuguese entry for são is 3 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈsɐ̃w̃/. Corpus data places it at rank #34 in overall Portuguese word frequency, putting it firmly in the everyday core of the language. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for são in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable Portuguese patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "se", "só", "si", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct Portuguese form is são, spelled S-Ã-O, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1saudável
- 2sadio
- 3gozando de saúde mental
Frequency rank: #34 in Portuguese
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “são”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct Portuguese spelling is S-Ã-O — every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈsɐ̃w̃/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “se” — see the side-by-side comparison. são vs se
- Browse more Portuguese words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Portuguese words
Nearby Portuguese words
Other entries that begin with the letter S in our Portuguese index: