Etymology

São Paulo

Today it means: A municipality, the state capital of São Paulo State, Brazil. Full definition →

Portuguese São Paulo ← Old Tupi pirá
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The story

  1. Old Tupi · derived fromtininga“to dry”
  2. Old Tupi · derived frompirá“fish”
  3. Portuguese · borrowed fromSão Paulo
  4. English todaySão Paulo

Borrowed from Portuguese São Paulo, named after Saint Paul. Doublet of Saint Paul. The city was originally named "São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga" meaning "Saint Paul of the fields of Piratininga". "Piratininga" comes from Old Tupi pirá (“fish”) and Old Tupi tininga (“to dry”) meaning "dried fish", after the fish that would be stranded on the shore of the Tietê River after a flood and left to dry out.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.