Zodiac Signs in Portuguese: All 12 Names

There is no single set of zodiac signs in Portuguese. Four of the twelve are written or worded differently in Brazil than in Portugal, which means a horoscope column copied from São Paulo to Lisbon will read as foreign before the reader reaches the second sign.

Portuguese also does something no other language in this series does at scale: it has a dedicated word for a person born under each sign, and Brazilians use those words constantly. Nobody in Rio says “she’s a Gemini” when ela é geminiana is available.

All 12 Zodiac Signs in Portuguese

The Four Signs Where Brazil and Portugal Part Ways

Gemini: Gêmeos or Gémeos

One accent, two countries. Brazil writes Gêmeos with a circumflex; Portugal writes Gémeos with an acute. This is not a spelling error on either side — it reflects a genuine difference in how the vowel is pronounced before a nasal, closer in Brazil, more open in Portugal. The same split runs through hundreds of words: Brazilian acadêmico against European académico.

Libra: Libra or Balança

Brazil kept the Latin Libra. Portugal commonly uses Balança, “the scales”, which is the same choice Italian made when it settled on Bilancia. Both are understood in both countries, but the default differs, and Balança in a Brazilian horoscope reads as noticeably European.

Aries: Áries or Carneiro

Áries is standard in Brazil and common in Portugal. But European Portuguese also uses Carneiro — the ram — in older and more traditional sources, translating the image rather than keeping the Latin. It is the only Romance language in this cluster that offers a native alternative for Aries.

Cancer: Câncer or Caranguejo

Brazil uses Câncer without hesitation. Portugal is more careful, because cancro is the everyday European Portuguese word for the disease and the association sits closer to the surface — so Portuguese sources sometimes prefer Caranguejo, the crab, for the sign. If you are writing for a Portuguese audience specifically, this is the one entry in the list worth checking with a local editor.

The Portuguese Words for People Born Under Each Sign

This is the part most guides skip entirely, and it is the part you will actually hear. Portuguese turns every sign into an adjective, and both Brazilians and Portuguese speakers use them far more readily than English speakers use “Piscean”.

So sou canceriana is a more natural way for a woman to state her sign than sou de Câncer, and Brazilian horoscope columns are written almost entirely in these forms: os arianos, as librianas. If you are producing Portuguese astrology content and you are not using them, the copy will read as translated no matter how clean the grammar is.

The Hardest Sound in the Portuguese Zodiac

Two signs end in -ão: Leão and Escorpião. That is the nasal diphthong that defines Portuguese to foreign ears, and there is no English equivalent. It is not “ow” and it is not “on” — the air goes through the nose and the sound closes towards a w. Roughly “OWNG”, with the final consonant barely landing.

Virgem hides another one. The -em ending is nasal too, closer to “aym” than to the English “em”, and in Brazil it drifts further towards “ayng”.

One broader difference worth knowing: European Portuguese pronounces a final s as “sh”. So Áries and Peixes end in “-esh” in Lisbon and “-ees” in São Paulo. It is the fastest way to tell the two apart out loud.

The Twelve Portuguese Star Signs, One by One

Aries in Portuguese: Áries

From Latin, with the accent marking stress on the first syllable. A person is ariano. See the Aries profile.

Taurus in Portuguese: Touro

The everyday word for bull, not a learned borrowing — Portuguese uses the same word for the animal and the sign, where Spanish keeps toro for the animal and Tauro for the sign. More in the Taurus profile.

Gemini in Portuguese: Gêmeos

The ordinary word for twins, unlike Spanish, which keeps Géminis separate from gemelos. The Gemini profile has more.

Cancer in Portuguese: Câncer

Crab and disease share the root, as across the Romance languages. Caranguejo is the everyday word for the animal. Read the Cancer profile.

Leo in Portuguese: Leão

The ordinary word for lion, and one of the two nasal-ending signs. A person is leonino. See the Leo profile.

Virgo in Portuguese: Virgem

Portuguese uses the living word for virgin rather than the Latin Virgo — the same word as in a Virgem Maria. More in the Virgo profile.

Libra in Portuguese: Libra

Latin in Brazil, Balança in Portugal. Libra is also the Portuguese word for the pound sterling. The Libra profile covers the sign.

Scorpio in Portuguese: Escorpião

Like Spanish, Portuguese cannot start a word with sc- and adds an e-. Unlike Spanish, it kept the full form rather than trimming to Escorpio. See the Scorpio profile.

Sagittarius in Portuguese: Sagitário

One t, as in Spanish, against Italian’s two. See the Sagittarius profile.

Capricorn in Portuguese: Capricórnio

Goat-horn, from caper and cornu. Read the Capricorn profile.

Aquarius in Portuguese: Aquário

Also the word for a fish tank, as in Spanish and Italian. The Aquarius profile has the sign.

Pisces in Portuguese: Peixes

The plural of peixe, fish — the everyday word, not a learned form. See the Pisces profile.

Portuguese Astrology Vocabulary

The phrases:

• Qual é o seu signo? — What’s your sign? (Brazil often shortens to Qual seu signo?)
• Sou de Leão. / Sou leonino. — I’m a Leo.
• Nasci sob o signo de Escorpião. — I was born under the sign of Scorpio.
• Típico de ariano! — Typical Aries!

Note mapa astral for a birth chart — literally “astral map”, and a much more evocative term than the English equivalent. It is one of the most-searched astrology phrases in Brazil.

Horóscopo in Brazil and Portugal

Brazil is one of the largest astrology markets in the world, and it shows in the vocabulary: mapa astral, signo ascendente and retorno de Saturno circulate in ordinary conversation. Daily horóscopo segments run on Brazilian television and in every major portal, and the register is affectionate and unembarrassed.

Portugal is more restrained, closer to the northern European tone. If you are writing one piece for both markets, the safe approach is to keep the sign names Brazilian, avoid Balança and Carneiro, and lean on the adjective forms, which work everywhere.

Frequently Asked Questions

Zodiac Signs in Portuguese and Its Neighbours

Portuguese and Spanish diverge more than people expect — see the zodiac signs in Spanish, which has no Brazil-and-Portugal problem and trims Scorpio to Escorpio. The zodiac signs in Italian made the same choice as European Portuguese at Libra, replacing the Latin with a word for scales. For languages that translated every single image instead, see German or Dutch.

All ten languages: zodiac signs in different languages.