são
Portuguese, noun
são is spelled S-Ã-O (3 letters) and appears 2,692 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 36th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). São is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “someone or something healthy” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). It is also a third-person plural present indicative of ser. With a capital, São is a different word: “forms the titles of male saints whose names begin with a consonant…”. The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “forma apocopada de santo, utilizada antes de nomes próprios iniciados por consoantes, exceto h (exceto santo…”.
What does são mean in English?
adjective
- 1
sound, healthy (enjoying health and vigour of body, mind, or spirit)
- 2
sane (mentally sound; possessing a rational mind)
- 3
logically sound
noun
- 1
masculinesomeone or something healthy
adjective
- 1
masculineapocopic form of santo (“saint”)
verb
- 1
third-person plural present indicative of ser
adjective
- 1
masculineforms the titles of male saints whose names begin with a consonant (except H, which is silent)
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
adjective: 1. saudável 2. sadio 3. gozando de saúde mental
noun: 1. forma apocopada de santo, utilizada antes de nomes próprios iniciados por consoantes, exceto h (exceto santo Tirso e são (ou santo) Tomás, que é oscilante) 2. indivíduo sadio, que goza de boa saúde
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 são
- S. alternative abbreviation
- sã feminine
- sãos masculine plural
- sãs feminine plural
- saõ alternative obsolete
- santo standard
- São alternative capitalized
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
English words that translate to são
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is são in Portuguese?
são appears 2,692 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).