Oporto

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A historic coastal city in northern Portugal, situated at the mouth of the Douro River and famous as the home of port wine
2. The second-largest city of Portugal, located in the north on the Douro River and known for its riverside old town and port wine trade
3. A Portuguese city in the north of the country, on the Douro estuary, whose name is also associated with the fortified wine called port

Etymology: "Oporto" is the Portuguese name for the city that English speakers usually call Porto, the second-largest city in Portugal, on the Douro River near its mouth. The English form is a direct borrowing of the Portuguese phrase "o Porto", which means "the port" (in the sense of harbour). The article "o" was part of the name in Portuguese, and English speakers kept it, so the city's name carried the definite article with it into English. The word "porto" itself is ordinary Portuguese for "port" or "harbour", the same root that gives English "port" and its many relatives. The city took its name from its location as a harbour at the river's mouth, so the English name preserves the Portuguese sense of the place as the port.

Synonyms: porto