cinturão

Cinturão is a Portuguese noun that primarily refers to a belt or band worn around the body to secure clothing or carry items. Beyond its literal meaning, the term can denote any belt-like structure that acts as a boundary, division, or ring around something, and it appears in various specialized contexts.

In astronomy, Cinturão de Asteroides refers to the asteroid belt, a ring of rocky bodies orbiting the Sun between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The belt spans roughly from 2.1 to 3.3 astronomical units from the Sun and contains a large number of asteroids, including several sizable ones such as Ceres and Vesta. It is not a planet; its structure is shaped by the gravitational influence of Jupiter and the distribution of material formed early in the solar system.

In urban planning and geography, cinto denotes a belt around a city. Examples include the cinturão verde, or green belt, which preserves open space and helps limit urban sprawl, and cinturão rodoviário, a ring road or beltway that facilitates traffic around a metropolitan area.

In sports and popular culture, cinto is widely used in Brazilian Portuguese to refer to a championship belt awarded to a winner in combat sports such as boxing, wrestling, or mixed martial arts. The term emphasizes the symbolic status of the title and its status as a tangible prize.

Overall, the word cinto encompasses both its literal sense as a wearable band and its broader metaphorical uses as a boundary, ring, or prize in various domains.