Portuguese language

Portuguese (<a href="/facts/Endonym/8pyd1nE9">endonym</a>: português or língua portuguesa) is a <a href="/facts/Western_Romance_language/onhwQWRh">Western Romance language</a> of the <a href="/facts/Indo-European_language_family/L34TfgSr">Indo-European language family</a> originating from the <a href="/facts/Iberian_Peninsula/ztFXI8zt">Iberian Peninsula</a> of <a href="/facts/Europe/DTAtrKfh">Europe</a>. It is the official language of <a href="/facts/Angola/PQrYRHMd">Angola</a>, <a href="/facts/Brazil/QHkG46GL">Brazil</a>, <a href="/facts/Cape_Verde/YCNhPVhE">Cape Verde</a>, <a href="/facts/Guinea-Bissau/YqJjM4Ex">Guinea-Bissau</a>, <a href="/facts/Mozambique/mMWQ80JT">Mozambique</a>, <a href="/facts/Portugal/lYzwDQ63">Portugal</a> and <a href="/facts/S%25C3%25A3o_Tom%25C3%25A9_and_Pr%25C3%25ADncipe/7EbNfgsJ">São Tomé and Príncipe</a>, and has co-official language status in <a href="/facts/East_Timor/IBQ69BRj">East Timor</a>, <a href="/facts/Equatorial_Guinea/ARkq2P4f">Equatorial Guinea</a> and <a href="/facts/Macau/klWBBy2L">Macau</a>. Portuguese-speaking people or nations are known as <a href="/facts/Lusophone/eHpBurph">Lusophone</a> (lusófono). As the result of expansion during colonial times, a cultural presence of Portuguese speakers is also found around the world. Portuguese is part of the <a href="/facts/Iberian_Romance_languages/QWQ7RXwo">Ibero-Romance group</a> that evolved from several dialects of <a href="/facts/Vulgar_Latin/uR9BLlE5">Vulgar Latin</a> in the medieval <a href="/facts/Kingdom_of_Galicia/prll1FbQ">Kingdom of Galicia</a> and the <a href="/facts/County_of_Portugal/0YGNT5IH">County of Portugal</a>, and has kept some <a href="/facts/Gallaecian_language/eYyhEYUt">Celtic</a> phonology.
With approximately 250 million native speakers and 17 million <a href="/facts/Second_language/aUqAzeNK">second language</a> speakers, Portuguese has approximately 267 million total speakers. It is usually listed as the <a href="/facts/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers/QSBNlNBj">fifth-most spoken native language</a>, the third-most spoken European language in the world in terms of native speakers and the second-most spoken <a href="/facts/Romance_languages/TMK4KHI3">Romance language</a> in the world, surpassed only by <a href="/facts/Spanish_language/95BgYNfv">Spanish</a>. Being the first most widely spoken language in <a href="/facts/South_America/PhrFEMk7">South America</a> and the most-spoken language in the <a href="/facts/Southern_Hemisphere/QfJ4z9L5">Southern Hemisphere</a>, it is also the second-most spoken language, after Spanish, in <a href="/facts/Latin_America/Qmx9Jx2a">Latin America</a>, one of the 10 most spoken languages in <a href="/facts/Africa/XkqQUP9s">Africa</a>, and an official language of the <a href="/facts/European_Union/6GYcR8qM">European Union</a>, <a href="/facts/Mercosul/hb6taQX1">Mercosul</a>, the <a href="/facts/Organization_of_American_States/bxrtCRTI">Organization of American States</a>, the <a href="/facts/Economic_Community_of_West_African_States/7fszzNxT">Economic Community of West African States</a>, the <a href="/facts/African_Union/Pz1DVnDN">African Union</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Community_of_Portuguese_Language_Countries/lCTLqz6r">Community of Portuguese Language Countries</a>, an international organization made up of all of the world's officially <a href="/facts/Lusophone/eHpBurph">Lusophone</a> nations. In 1997, a comprehensive academic study ranked Portuguese as one of the 10 most influential languages in the world.

Portuguese language open-in-new

Portuguese language