chato

See also: chāto, chatô, and Chatô

Galician

Etymology

Ultimately from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flattened”), possibly through Spanish chato. See Portuguese chato.

Doublet of prato and plati-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃato/ [ˈt͡ʃa.t̪ʊ]
• Rhymes: -ato

Adjective

chato (feminine chata, masculine plural chatos, feminine plural chatas)

1. (rare) flat
2. pug-nosed

Noun

chato m (plural chatos)

1. low cup for drinking wine
2. (colloquial) liquid contained in said cup

Derived terms

• ir de chatos

References

• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “chato”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “chato”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “chato”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Occitan

Noun

chato f (plural chatos)

1. (Mistralian) alternative form of chata (“girl”)

Old Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flattened”), from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈt͡ʃa.to]
• Rhymes: -ato

Adjective

chato

1. snub-nosed

Noun

chato m (plural chatos, feminine singular chata, feminine plural chatas)

1. snub-nosed person

Descendants

• Spanish: chato
  • → Catalan: xato
  • →? Galician: chato
  • →? Portuguese: chato

References

• Ralph Steele Boggs et al. (1946), “chato”, in Tentative Dictionary of Medieval Spanish, volume I, Chapel Hill, page 160
• “chato”, in Diccionario del español medieval electrónico [Electronic Dictionary of Medieval Spanish] (in Spanish, English, and German), Rostock University and Paderborn University, 2022–present

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈxa.tɔ/
• Rhymes: -atɔ
• Syllabification: cha‧to

Noun

chato f

1. vocative singular of chata

Portuguese

Etymology

Ultimately from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flattened”). Houiass claims this is a borrowing from Spanish chato and not an inheritance, due to the complete lack of attestations before 1548.

It undergone a semantic shift to “boring” and “annoying” in colloquial speech, similarly to English flat. Noun 2 sense 1 comes from the annoying nature of the bug.

Doublet of prato and plati-. Compare Galician chato and Sicilian chiattu.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈʃa.tu/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃa.tu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈʃa.tu/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃa.tu/

• Audio (Brazil (Caipira)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -atu
• Hyphenation: cha‧to

Adjective

chato (feminine chata, masculine plural chatos, feminine plural chatas, comparable, comparative mais chato, superlative o mais chato or chatíssimo, diminutive chatinho, augmentative chatão)

1. flat

   Synonyms: achatado, plano, reto

3. (colloquial) boring

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:monótono

   O golfe é chato. ― Golf is boring.

5. (colloquial) annoying

   Synonym: irritante

   Que chato! ― How annoying!

7. (colloquial) shameful

   Synonym: vergonhoso

9. (colloquial) disappointing

   Synonym: decepcionante

Derived terms

• chatear
• chatice
• chato de galocha
• chatonildo

Noun

chato m (plural chatos, feminine chata, feminine plural chatas)

1. (colloquial) bore (a boring, uninteresting person)
2. (colloquial) an annoying person

Noun

chato m (plural chatos)

2. pubic louse

   Synonym: piolho-ladro

See also

• chatô

Further reading

• “chato”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “chato”, in Dicionário Infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2026
• “chato”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2026, →ISBN
• “chato”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *pleth₂-

Proto-Indo-European *-us

Proto-Indo-European *pléth₂us

Proto-Hellenic *plətús

Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús)bor.

Vulgar Latin *plattus

Old Galician-Portuguese chatoinflu.?

Old Spanish chato

Spanish chato

Inherited from Old Spanish chato (“snub-nosed”), from Vulgar Latin *plattus (“flattened”), from Ancient Greek πλατύς (platús). The phonetic evolution of the Latin consonant cluster ⟨-pl-⟩ to ⟨-ch-⟩ is not regular (it generally becomes ⟨-ll-⟩ instead) and may be explained by the word often having been postconsonantal (such as es chato, los chatos, un chato, etc.), which would fit in more with Spanish phonetic norms (compare henchir, hinchar). Doublet of plato, which was borrowed directly from Latin.

Coromines claims it was borrowed from Portuguese chato due to a supposed lack of attestations before the 17th century, which seems to be a gap in the sources available to him.

Cognate to Catalan plat, French plat, and Italian piatto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃato/ [ˈt͡ʃa.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -ato
• Syllabification: cha‧to

Adjective

chato (feminine chata, masculine plural chatos, feminine plural chatas)

1. flat

   Synonyms: plano, llano

2. pug-nosed
3. (Chile) annoyed, fed up, sick and tired

   Synonyms: harto, hastiado, cabreado

4. (Spain, Antilles, informal) kiddo, little one, youngster
5. (Peru, informal) (of a person) short

Derived terms

• achatar
• chata

Descendants

• → Catalan: xato
• →? Galician: chato
• →? Portuguese: chato

Further reading

• “chato”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), 24th edition, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 30 October 2026

Welsh

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈχatɔ/

Verb

chato

1. aspirate mutation of cato

Mutation

Mutated forms of cato

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
cato	gato	nghato	chato

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.