Paroxytone words: examples, accentuation

To the paroxytones are those words whose stressed syllable occurs on the penultimate syllable of the word. Paroxytone words are the most common in the Portuguese language, and there are also oxytones (last syllable as stressed) and proparoxytones (antepenultimate syllable as stressed).

Read too: How are words structured and formed?

Topics of this article

• 1 - Summary of paroxytone words
• 2 - What are paroxytone words?
• 3 - List of paroxytone words
• 4 - What are the rules for accenting paroxytones?
• 5 - Paroxytone words and spelling agreement
• 6 - Paroxytone words and prosody deviations
• 7 - Paroxytone words and double prosody
• 8 - What are the differences between oxytones, paroxytones and proparoxytones?
• 9 - Solved exercises on paroxytone words

Summary on paroxytone words

• Paroxytone words have the penultimate syllable as tonic, that is, pronounced more strongly and emphatically.

• Most words in the Portuguese language are paroxytones, meaning that many of them do not need to be accentuated.

• There are specific cases in which the graphic accent is necessary to indicate that the word is paroxytone.

• There are also oxytone words (last syllable as stressed) and proparoxytone (antepenultimate syllable as stressed).

What are paroxytone words?

The paroxytone words are the what have the penultimate syllable like syllable tonic, that is, pronounced more strongly. Paroxytones are the most common type of word in the Portuguese language.

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paroxytone word list

Here are some examples of paroxytone words:

• TheberI'm

• bikecleOK

• withceifrog

• denyou

• esperI'm

• farfrog

• irriOKof

• alreadyhuhthere

• chewing gumfrogof

• meniat the

• worldof

• plahuhOK

• whoyou

• reforço

• will havepiThe

• to havereat the

• yougr

• seehuhat the

What are the rules for accentuating paroxytones?

In Portuguese, it is more common for the stressed syllable to fall on the penultimate syllable, so often the paroxytones are not accented. Even so, there are specific cases of paroxytone words that need the graphic accent to mark their stressed syllable. Look:

Graphic accent usage rule	Examples
ended in -i, -is, -us, -um, -uns	OKxi, biThuni, therestep, sawrus, thereboom, foruns
ended in -l, -n, -r, -x, -ons, -ps and its plural forms	fancyl, millstonevel, hifen, dustlen, ofhome, revolto see, okrax, consouth, plancton, cancer, amPub
ended in -hey or -hey	jobwhat, hoI burned
ending in nasal sounds -ã, -ãs, -ão, -ãs, -guam, -guem	blessingdog, íbad, organ, enshahguam
ended in rising diphthong	sábio, rewater, airduo, at thedonates

Paroxytone words and spelling agreement

In the current spelling agreement, some paroxytone words lost their graphic accent. These are the following cases:

paroxytone words	Examples
ended in open diphthong -hey or -hi	iI gavea, gelawa, plateThe, jioxthe, tono IOh yesroico, joiThe
ended in diphthong -ee or -oo	believein, lein, seein, grandmotherthe, injothe, perofO
-i or -u after diphthong	feiuok, bauhere

Important:The graphic accent is maintained in oxytone words like hegnaws, shovelfeet, lençis, among others.

Also access: Accent — all graphical accent rules after spelling agreement

Paroxytone words and prosody deviations

Prosody is the study of intonation and stress in spoken language. Thus, a prosody deviation is a mispronunciation of a word. Some paroxytones are commonly mispronounced. These are cases where instead of pronouncing the penultimate syllable as stressed, another syllable is pronounced that way. See some examples:

correct pronunciation	incorrect pronunciation
Thegoro	ávarus
queuetrodust	filântrope
pusaywith	pussay
recolorin	rerope
rubrihere	ruplay

Note that these words are paroxytones, but often there are prosody deviations that transform them into inappropriate proparoxytones.

Paroxytone words and double prosody

Just as there are deviations in prosody, there are some paroxytones with double prosody, that is, that have more than one correct pronunciation. This happens when the word can be pronounced as a paroxytone or as another type of word. See some cases:

paroxytone	proparoxytone
acrobaOK	Thecrobeat
hieroglifo	hieroglyph
soonyoudust	itgootype
paroxytone	oxytone
X andpurple	X andpurple
proalreadyuseful	designuseful

What are the differences between oxytones, paroxytones, and proparoxytones?

The difference between these three types of words is in the stressed syllable.

• words theshitones: have the last syllable as stressed. Examples: saci, mandacaru, pasteis.

• Paroxytone words: have the penultimate syllable as the stress. Examples: heresa, faZenyes, otorhinolaryngologistgisOK.

• proparoxytone words: have the antepenultimate syllable comotonic. Examples: footok, okfrogtula, resThurut.

Solved exercises on paroxytone words

question 1

(Funrio)

The word “organ” is accented, because it meets one of the criteria for accentuating paroxytones. A paroxytone that meets another criterion is:

A) public

b) close

C) tubers

D) energetic

E) assimilable

Resolution:

Alternative E

The word “assimiláveis” ends in -is, and must be accented to indicate the stressed syllable in the penultimate syllable (and not in the last, as would be the case if there were no graphic accent). In addition, the words in the other alternatives are proparoxytones and not paroxytones.

question 2

(Faepesul)

I, LABEL

On my pants is a name stuck

which is not mine by baptism or registry,

a name... strange.

My jacket has a drink reminder

that I have never put in my mouth in this life.

On my T-shirt, the cigarette brand

I don't smoke, until today I haven't smoked.

My socks talk about product

that I never tried

but are communicated at my feet.

My tennis it proclaims colorful

of something unproven

by this long-aged taster.

My handkerchief, my clock, my keychain,

my tie and belt and brush and comb,

my cup, my cup,

my bath towel and soap,

my this, my that,

from the head to the toes of the shoes,

are messages,

talking letters,

visual screams,

orders for use, abuse, recidivism,

custom, habit, urgency,

indispensability,

and make me a traveling advertisement man,

slave of the advertised matter.

I'm, I'm in fashion.

It's hard to be in fashion, even if fashion

whether to deny my identity,

exchange it for a thousand, hoarding

all trademarks,

all logos on the market.

with what innocence I resign from being

I who used to be and knew myself

so different from others, so myself,

to be thinking, feeling and supportive

with other diverse and conscious beings

of your human, invincible condition.

Now I'm an advertisement

sometimes vulgar, sometimes bizarre,

in the national language or in any language

(any, mostly).

And in this I compare myself, I take glory

of my annulment.

I'm not — check it out — a contracted ad.

I am the one who kindly pays

to advertise, to sell

in bars parties beaches pergolas swimming pools,

and in full view I display this label

global in the body that gives up

of being the garment and sandal of an essence

so alive, independent,

what fashion or bribe does any compromise it.

Where will I have thrown

my taste and ability to choose,

my very personal idiosyncrasies,

so mine that in the face they were mirrored

and every gesture, every look

every crease of the clothes

I am engraved universally,

I leave the stamping shop, not the house,

they take me out of the window, replace it,

pulsating object but object

that offers itself as a sign of others

objects static, charged.

For showing off so proudly

of not being me, but an industrial article,

I ask that my name be rectified.

No longer suits me the title of man.

My new name is thing.

I am the thing, the thing.

Carlos Drummond de Andrade. poetic work, Volumes 4-6. Lisbon: Publications Europe-America, 1989.

Analyzing the graphic accentuation of the underlined words in the text:

i. “Cartório” and “relógio” are accented paroxytones, because they end in a rising diphthong.

II. “Tênis” is a paroxytone ending in “i”, followed by “s”. Therefore, accentuated.

III. “Reincidence” is a paroxytone ending in hiatus, confirming the presence of the graphic accent.

About these statements, we have:

A) Only III is correct.

B) I and III are correct.

C) II and III are correct.

D) I and II are correct.

E) All are correct.

Resolution:

Alternative D

The word “recurrence” is not a paroxytone, but a proparoxytone.

By Guilherme Viana
Grammar Teacher

Doubts about graphic accentuation? Do not cultivate them anymore, because from now on, you will have a section only on this subject. Clicking is the watchword!

Read and learn about oxytones, paroxytones or proparoxytones, which are the classifications of words according to the position of the stressed syllable.

Learn why some paroxytones lose their accent when written in the plural.

Click here and find out which are the oxytone words and which of them must be accentuated. Also know what paroxytones and proparoxytones are.

Click here and learn what proparoxytone words are. See examples and understand their relationship with prosody.

Find out what language addictions are and how they can be classified. Learn their different types with examples and practice with some exercises.