atribútu

Atribútu is a noun used in several Romance languages to denote a property or characteristic assigned to an entity. In Portuguese and Spanish, the common form is atributo, and in some orthographies the accent marks stress as atribútu to reflect pronunciation. The term ultimately derives from Latin attributum, from attribuere “to assign.” In general use, an attribute is something that can be ascribed to a subject or object.

In linguistics, the atributo (atributo do sujeito) is the predicative element that describes the subject in a sentence, such as in “O livro é antigo,” where “antigo” is the atributo. Grammar traditions differ in terminology, but the atributo is commonly viewed as the predicate that complements the subject, sometimes called predicative or nominal predicate.

In philosophy and logic, an attribute is a property or quality that can be attributed to an object, such as “red,” “massive,” or “curious.” In computer science and information modeling, an attribute refers to a data field or property of an entity—examples include a person’s name or a product’s price. In HTML, attributes provide additional information about elements (for example, width or alt).

Variations and related terms include attribute, property, predicate, and metadata. See also attribute (linguistics), predicate, and data modeling.