Aumentativo: -ão, -zão
Aumentativo: -ão, -zão means “Like the diminutive, the augmentative is less about size than about attitude — awe, intensity or scorn”. The augmentative is the mirror image of the diminutive: you add -ão (or -zão after a stressed vowel or consonant) to a noun — carro → carrão, casa → casarão, mulher → mulherão, homem → homenzarrão. Formation: substantivo + -ão/-zão · consoante ou ditongo → -zarrão (homem → homenzarrão) · o gênero costuma virar masculino (a casa → o casarão, a mulher → o mulherão)
Like the diminutive, the augmentative is less about size than about attitude — awe, intensity or scorn
B2Formation
substantivo + -ão/-zão · consoante ou ditongo → -zarrão (homem → homenzarrão) · o gênero costuma virar masculino (a casa → o casarão, a mulher → o mulherão)
Explanation
The augmentative is the mirror image of the diminutive: you add -ão (or -zão after a stressed vowel or consonant) to a noun — carro → carrão, casa → casarão, mulher → mulherão, homem → homenzarrão. One striking trait is that the gender often flips to masculine by default, even from a feminine noun: a casa becomes o casarão, a mulher becomes o mulherão. And just like -inho, the suffix is only sometimes about literal size. It usually carries an attitude: admiration (um carrão is an impressive car, not merely a big one; que golaço! is a stunning goal), sheer intensity (levar um sustão = to get a huge fright), or something pejorative (um livrão can be a fat, tedious book, and palavrão has frozen into meaning a swear word). A few augmentatives are fully lexicalized and no longer mean anything big at all — portão is a gate, cartão is a card, caldeirão a cauldron. Spanish speakers can lean on the parallel -ón/-azo (carrazo, golazo), but should remember that here too the point is the speaker's stance, not dimension.
Examples
Note
The gender flip is real: even feminine nouns usually take masculine in the augmentative (a mulher → o mulherão). And a carrão praises the car, it does not just call it big.
FAQ
Aumentativo: -ão, -zão — what does it mean and how is it used?
Like the diminutive, the augmentative is less about size than about attitude — awe, intensity or scorn. The augmentative is the mirror image of the diminutive: you add -ão (or -zão after a stressed vowel or consonant) to a noun — carro → carrão, casa → casarão, mulher → mulherão, homem → homenzarrão. One striking trait is that the gender often flips to masculine by default, even from a feminine noun: a casa becomes o casarão, a mulher becomes o mulherão. And just like -inho, the suffix is only sometimes about literal size. It usually carries an attitude: admiration (um carrão is an impressive car, not merely a big one; que golaço! is a stunning goal), sheer intensity (levar um sustão = to get a huge fright), or something pejorative (um livrão can be a fat, tedious book, and palavrão has frozen into meaning a swear word). A few augmentatives are fully lexicalized and no longer mean anything big at all — portão is a gate, cartão is a card, caldeirão a cauldron. Spanish speakers can lean on the parallel -ón/-azo (carrazo, golazo), but should remember that here too the point is the speaker's stance, not dimension.
Aumentativo: -ão, -zão — how do you form it?
substantivo + -ão/-zão · consoante ou ditongo → -zarrão (homem → homenzarrão) · o gênero costuma virar masculino (a casa → o casarão, a mulher → o mulherão)
Aumentativo: -ão, -zão — any usage notes?
The gender flip is real: even feminine nouns usually take masculine in the augmentative (a mulher → o mulherão). And a carrão praises the car, it does not just call it big.