entes

Ente is a term used in philosophy and logic to denote a being or entity—any thing that exists. The plural form entes appears in several Romance languages, notably Spanish and Portuguese, where it is commonly used to refer to multiple beings or entities. In scholarly contexts, an ente is contrasted with ideas, concepts, or abstractions, and is discussed within debates on existence, identity, and modality. The word derives from Latin roots connected with the notion of being, and it has been adopted across languages to translate the concept of an entity in metaphysics and ontology.

In everyday usage, the sense of ente can vary by language. In Italian, for example, ente means an organization or public body and does not form the plural entes (the standard plural is enti). In Portuguese and Spanish, however, entes can function as a generic term for beings, persons, or existing things, including both concrete objects and animate beings. In some Brazilian Portuguese contexts, ente can also appear in spiritual or cultural discourse to refer to entities or agents, though the broader term for spiritual beings is more commonly entidade.

Across disciplines, entes covers a broad range of referents—from physical objects and living beings to abstract entities in theories of mind and information. The term is frequently encountered in philosophical texts, ontological surveys, theological discussions, and comparative linguistic works dealing with the semantics of existence and being. Entes thus serves as a versatile label for discussing what exists, in contrast to what is imagined or conceived but not instantiated.