Enganou

Enganou is the third-person singular form of the Portuguese verb enganar in the preterite indicative. It expresses that someone deceived, tricked, or misled another person in the past. As a transitive verb, enganar takes a direct object, for example: Ele enganou o amigo com uma história improvável (He deceived his friend with an improbable story).

The verb also has a reflexive form, enganou-se, which means that the subject was mistaken or misled themselves rather than deceiving someone else. An example is: Ele enganou-se ao pensar que conseguiria o emprego facilmente (He was mistaken in thinking he would easily get the job).

Usage notes: Enganou is commonly employed in narrative and reporting to describe prior acts of deception or misbelief. It can convey deliberate deception by a person or simply indicate that someone was fooled by information, depending on the context. The preterite tense signals a completed action in the past and is used similarly in both Brazilian and European Portuguese.

See also: enganar (to deceive), engano (deception, trick), enganador/enganadora (deceiver).

Enganou thus functions as a concise past-tense descriptor of deception, with its reflexive form addressing personal mistaken belief, and it appears across everyday language, journalism, and literature.