balão

balão

See also: balaõ

Portuguese

balões

Alternative forms

• ballão (obsolete), balaõ (obsolete), ballaõ (obsolete)

Etymology

From French ballon, from Middle French ballon, from Italian pallone (“large ball”), from palla (“ball”), from Lombardic *palla (“ball”), although the then Northern Italian form balla, from Old French balle, from Frankish balla, is likely the more direct influence; both from Proto-Germanic *ballô (“ball”), *balluz, from Proto-Indo-European *bholn- (“bubble”), from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- (“to blow, swell, inflate”).

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɐ.ˈlɐ̃w̃/
• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ba.ˈlɐ̃w̃/
• Hyphenation: ba‧lão

Noun

balão m (plural balões)

1. balloon
2. (chemistry) retort (flask used for distillation)
3. (Brazil) roundabout (road junction)
4. (Portugal, colloquial) breathalyzer
5. (comics) speech bubble
6. (soccer, slang) lob

Synonyms

• (breathalyzer): alcoolímetro, alcoolómetro (Portugal), alcoolômetro (Brazil), etilómetro (Portugal), etilômetro (Brazil), bafómetro (Portugal), bafômetro (Brazil)