avôs

From analogy with the singular form, the inherited plural os avós presents regular metaphony (cf. ôvo, óvos; nôvo, nóvos) and now means grandparents (see usage note), from Old Galician-Portuguese avoos, from Late Latin aviolos, ultimately from Latin avus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂éwh₂os (“grandfather”).

• Rhymes: (Brazil) -os, (Portugal, Rio de Janeiro) -oʃ, (Brazil) -ojs, (Rio de Janeiro) -ojʃ
• Hyphenation: a‧vôs

avôs

1. plural of avô

Avô has two plural forms, avôs and avós. The former (os avôs) means exclusively a group of two or more men (cf. English grandfathers), the latter (os avós) is used for a group of both men and women (cf. English grandparents). Both are masculine nouns. The plural of avó (grandmother) is a regular feminine noun (as avós) and means grandmothers. This is one of the few Portuguese nouns that have a tripartite plural inflection, the others being sogro, consogro, tio-avô, bisavô and other derived terms.