macios

Macios is the masculine plural form of the Portuguese adjective macio, meaning soft, tender, or yielding. It is used in both European and Brazilian Portuguese to describe qualities that are not hard or rigid, such as textures, sensations, or other gentle characteristics. The feminine plural form of the adjective is macias, and the singular forms are macio (masculine) and macia (feminine).

In everyday usage, macios commonly describes food textures, fabrics, and materials. Examples include pães macios (soft bread), queijos macios (soft cheeses), and lençóis macios (soft sheets). It can also describe non-physical qualities, such as a macios demeanour in a metaphorical sense, though this is less common.

Grammatically, macios agrees with masculine plural nouns. When referring to feminine nouns or the feminine plural, different forms are used (macias for feminine plural, macia for feminine singular). This gender and number agreement is a standard feature of Portuguese adjective usage.

Etymology-wise, macios derives from the base adjective macio, which itself stems from the Romance language family and is ultimately linked to Latin roots meaning soft or pliable. The term is primarily encountered in Portuguese-language contexts and does not denote a distinct, standalone concept outside that linguistic usage.

See also: macio.