estranhos

Estranhos is a Portuguese word with several related senses. As an adjective, estranho describes what is unusual, unfamiliar, or outside the expected or ordinary; for example, uma situação estranha (an odd situation) or uma pessoa estranha (a strange person). As a noun, estranhos refers to people who are not known to the speaker, i.e., strangers; feminine plural estranhas can refer to women who are strangers. In some contexts, the term can also convey a sense of foreigners, but the more common noun for a foreigner is estrangeiro. The noun and adjective follow standard Portuguese gender: estranhos is masculine plural and estranhas is feminine plural.

Etymology: the word derives from Latin extraneus, meaning external or foreign, and entered Portuguese with senses linked to distance, foreignness, and otherness. This historical development contributed to the modern mixture of meanings: strange, unfamiliar, and outsider.

Usage notes: Estranhos is used to indicate people not known to the speaker or to describe something unusual or suspicious. It appears in everyday expressions such as 'um estranho' (a stranger) and 'parece estranho' (it seems odd). The term can function as both adjective and noun, adapting to gender and number in sentence structure.

See also: estrangeiro, estranho.