Body Parts in Portuguese

Olá! Today I will be writing about body parts in Portuguese. I have to tell you that if you found the title weird, you are not alone. I also struggled with it.

Anyhow, as strange as it may be the topic, we all do have body parts and it might be quite handy to know the names of each of them, if we are going to the doctor, for example.

Therefore, I decided to give you a list of vocabulary about this topic today, so you do not say that your arm is hurting, when in fact you want to say that your head is in pain.

Ok, let’s start!

You can watch this topic also on my YouTube channel:

How to describe body parts in Portuguese

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O corpo	The body
A cabeça	The head
O tronco	The upper body
Os membros	The limbs

When we are kids at school, we always learn these words first. It is like if we are dividing the body – o corpo – in three big chunks – a cabeça, o tronco, os membros.

After this, we start learning in detail all the remaining nouns about the body. Shall we?

A cabeça	The head
O cabelo	The hair
O couro cabeludo	The scalp
A face/ A cara	The face
A testa	The forehead
A nuca	The back of the head
Os olhos	The eyes
O nariz	The nose
As orelhas	The ears
Os ouvidos	The (inner part of the) ears
A boca	The mouth
Os lábios	The lips
O queixo	The chin
O pescoço	The neck

So in this table I included all you can find in the “head part of the body” (okay, I never thought I would ever write this weird sentence in my life, but I guess you know what I mean).

I included “inner part of the ears” because when we want to tell our doctor that we have an earache, we will not say “Dói-me as orelhas”, but we will say “Dói-me os ouvidos” instead. We would only use the first sentence if we had a cut in the ear outside or another injury that was making the outer part of the ear hurt.

So, let’s move on to the “upper body part of the body”.

O tronco	The upper body
O peito	The chest
Os seios/ As mamas	The breasts
Os mamilos	The nipples
A barriga	The belly
O umbigo	The belly button
Os ombros	The shoulders
As omoplatas	The shoulder blades
As costas	The back
A espinha	The spine
As ancas	The hips

I am not sure that “upper body” is the correct translation for “o tronco” because I do not think they mean exactly the same thing. In Portuguese, “tronco” means the body without the head and the arms and legs. Therefore I included the hips as well.

Next, take a look at the limbs (ahah, yet another funny sentence!).

Os membros	The limbs
Os braços	The arms
Os cotovelos	The elbows
As mãos	The hands
As unhas	The fingernails
As pernas	The legs
Os joelhos	The knees
As coxas	The thighs
Os gémeos	The calves
Os calcanhares	The heels
As canelas	The shins
Os pés	The feet
Os dedos	The toes

You should note that, unlike English, in Portuguese “toes” and “fingers” are the same word. When we want to distinguish them (if it is not distinguishable by context), we can say “os dedos dos pés” or “os dedos das mãos”.

On the next table, I will talk about the “intimate” body parts.

Intimate body parts	Partes íntimas
O pénis	The penis
Os testículos	The testicles
A vagina	The vagina
O anus	The anus
As nádegas	The buttocks

Finally, I find it important to include the internal organs on this list, because you might have to say something like “My stomach hurts” or something similar.

Orgãos internos	Internal organs
O cérebro	The brain
O esófago	The oesophagus
A laringe	The larynx
A faringe	The pharynx
As cordas vocais	The vocal chords
Os pulmões	The lungs
O estômago	The stomach
O fígado	The liver
O coração	The heart
Os intestinos	The intestines
O útero	The uterus
Os ovários	The ovaries
A bexiga	The bladder
A vesícula biliar	The gallbladder
O pâncreas	The pancreas
Os rins	The kidneys

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And this is it! I hope you have learnt enough about the body parts in Portuguese and also about the internal organs in Portuguese. What a weird, but fun post to write! I hope you also enjoyed it.

Have you ever used any of these words? Did I forget anything? If so, leave a comment below and let me know all about it!

Have a wonderful time learning European Portuguese!

Beijinhos,

Mia.

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