novo

Novo is a word meaning "new" in several languages, and it also appears in various proper names and branding. In Portuguese, novo is a masculine singular adjective; its feminine form is nova, and the plural forms are novos (masculine) and novas (feminine). It is used before nouns to indicate novelty, as in produto novo (new product) or casa nova (new house). The term comes from Latin novus, and it has Romance-language cognates such as nuevo in Spanish, nuovo in Italian, and nouveau in French.

In many Slavic languages, including Croatian, Serbian, and Bosnian, novo is the neuter singular form of the adjective meaning "new." The masculine and feminine forms differ (novi for masculine, nova for feminine), reflecting gender agreement with the noun.

Beyond everyday language, novo commonly appears in place names and corporate branding, where it signals novelty or modernization. A well-known example in branding is Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company established in 1923 and recognized for its diabetes care products.

As a linguistic root, novo serves as a baseline for derivatives in multiple languages, illustrating how the concept of “new” travels across language families. In contemporary use, the term is encountered across education, commerce, and cultural contexts as a straightforward descriptor of freshness or innovation.