mezinha

Portuguese

Alternative forms

melzina (Trás-os-Montes)
menzinha (Alentejo)
mèzinha (pre-reform spelling)
meizinha (obsolete, dialectal)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese meezinha (“medicine, remedy”), from Latin medicīna (“medicine, remedy, cure”). Cognate with Galician menciña, Spanish melecina, Catalan metzina. Doublet of medicina.

Pronunciation

(Brazil) IPA^(key): /meˈzĩ.ɲɐ/ [meˈzĩ.j̃ɐ]
- (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /meˈzi.ɲa/

(Portugal) IPA^(key): /mɛˈzi.ɲɐ/

Homophone: mesinha (Brazil)
Hyphenation: me‧zi‧nha

Noun

mezinha f (plural mezinhas)

home remedy

Descendants

Macanese: mizinha

Further reading

“mezinha”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
“mezinha”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026