brejo

Portuguese

Etymology

Possibly inherited from Vulgar Latin *bragius, from Ancient Greek βράγος (brágos, “marsh, shallows”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH- (“to dig, bore”); compare Albanian bërrakë.

Or, inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese brejo, from Proto-Celtic *bracum (“swamp”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɾɛ.ʒu/

• Hyphenation: bre‧jo

Noun

brejo m (plural brejos)

1. marsh, swamp

   Synonyms: pântano, paul, breja; see also Thesaurus:pântano

   • 2023, Djalma do Nascimento Sousa, chapter XXIII, in Memórias do Sul do Maranhão, Maranhão, published 2023, page 523:

     Depois deste poço, sempre é seguido por um brejo com bastante pé de buriti [...]

     After this well, it's always followed by a swamp with lots of buriti trees [...]

2. (Northeast Brazil) a usually fertile terrain where rivers are more or less permanent
3. (Brazil, Maranhão) a low region with springs
4. (Brazil, Bahia) a rice plantation
5. (figuratively) a chilly and windy place

Derived terms

• ir para o brejo

References

• Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010) Etymological Dictionary of Greek (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 10), with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN