serviço

Serviço is a Portuguese noun with several related meanings centered on the act of serving or performing work for others. It can refer to the action of helping or supplying a need, the tasks carried out to fulfill a request, or the job itself. In everyday speech, a serviço may describe both the act of providing assistance and the finished work, as in prestar um bom serviço or estou com um serviço para fazer.

In economics, serviço denotes an intangible good produced to satisfy a consumer’s need. The service sector encompasses activities such as finance, health, education, hospitality, information technology, and professional services. The phrase prestação de serviços describes the act or industry of providing these activities rather than manufacturing tangible goods.

Public administration uses the term serviço to refer to government-provided activities, i.e., serviços públicos, including transport, sanitation, and public safety. Religious contexts also employ the word to denote a liturgical or ceremonial act, such as a church service, missa, culto, or similar.

Other uses include computing and IT, where serviço can appear in phrases like serviço web (web service) or serviço de rede, reflecting the adaptation of the term to technical domains. Etymology traces serviço to Latin servitium, via Portuguese evolution from servir/servire, with the suffix -iço forming a noun indicating the action or result of serving.