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Acronyms in Portuguese Posted by on Mar 28, 2012 in Vocabulary

In Portuguese, you’ll sometimes come across siglas or acrônimos (abbreviations or acronyms). Here’s a brief list of some you might encounter when reading or talking about Brazil.

ANATEL: Agência Nacional de Telecomunicações (Brazil’s Telecommunications Agency)

CEP: Código de Endereçamento Postal (Postal Address Code; zip code)

DETRAN – Departamento Estadual de Trânsito (State Transit Department; where you get your driver’s license)

Enem: Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (National High School Exam; Brazil’s college entry test)

FAB: Força Aérea Brasileira (Brazilian Air Force)

FIFA: Federação Internacional de Futebol Associado (International Federation of Association Football)

IBGE: Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (Brazilian Geography and Statistics Institute; agency that produces data about Brazilian populace)

IPI: Imposto sobre Produtos Industrializados (Industrial Products Tax; type of sales tax)

IR: Imposto de Renda (income tax)

ISV: Imposto sobre veículo (car tax)

MEC: Ministério da Educação (Ministry of Education)

Mercosul: Mercado Comum do Sul (Southern Common Market; regional integration organization)

OEA: Organização dos Estados Americanos (Organization of American States)

ONU: Organização das Nações Unidas (United Nations)

PAC: Programa de Aceleração do Crescimento (Growth Acceleration Program; goverment economic program)

PF: Polícia Federal (Federal Police)

PSDB: Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira (Brazilian Social Democracy Party; political party)

PT: Partido dos Trabalhadores (Worker’s Party; political party)

PUC: Pontifícia Universidade Católica (Pontifical Catholic University)

SENAC: Serviço Nacional de Aprendizagem Comercial (National Commercial Training Service; agency that offers job training)

SESC: Serviço Social do Comércio (Social Service of Commerce, Brazil’s culture agency)

UFRJ: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro)

UNESCO: Organização Educacional, Científica e Cultural das Nações Unidas (UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization)

UPP: Unidade de Polícia Pacificadora (Rio’s police pacification units that aim to reduce violence in favelas)

USP: Universidade de São Paulo (University of São Paulo)

Can you think of any others?

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Comments:

  1. leesean:

    Here is an important one:
    CPF – Cadastro de Pessoas Físicas
    It’s the Brazilian equivalent of a national ID number or Social Security number. You can’t get a bank account, cellphone, or most things without one.

  2. Raquel:

    UnB- Universidade de Brasília

    AMB – Associação Médica Brasileira