cruzado: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
C1Specialized / Historical
Quick answer
What does “cruzado” mean?
The former currency unit of Brazil.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
The former currency unit of Brazil.
Primarily a historical term for a specific Brazilian monetary unit. Secondarily, in historical or literary contexts, can refer to someone who has undertaken a crusade or been on a cross-country journey (from Spanish/Portuguese).
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant difference in usage, as the term is equally obscure in both varieties.
Connotations
Historical, specialized, financial.
Frequency
Extremely low frequency in both BrE and AmE, appearing only in very specific contexts.
Grammar
How to Use “cruzado” in a Sentence
The [Brazilian] cruzadobe worth X cruzadosreplace [currency] with the cruzadoVocabulary
Collocations
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Used in historical financial analysis of Latin American economies.
Academic
Found in economic history papers and texts on hyperinflation.
Everyday
Virtually never used in everyday conversation.
Technical
A specific term in numismatics (coin collecting) and economic history.
Vocabulary
Synonyms of “cruzado”
Neutral
Weak
Vocabulary
Antonyms of “cruzado”
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “cruzado”
- Using 'cruzado' to refer to the modern Brazilian real.
- Pluralizing incorrectly ('cruzadoes' is wrong; the correct plural is 'cruzados').
- Capitalizing it unnecessarily unless starting a sentence.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
No, the cruzado was replaced by the cruzeiro in 1989, and ultimately by the current currency, the real, in 1994.
Rarely. While it carries that meaning in Spanish and Portuguese, in English it is almost exclusively a historical financial term. The standard English word is 'crusader'.
In English, it is typically pronounced /kruːˈzɑːdəʊ/ (kroo-ZAH-doh), with the stress on the second syllable.
It is included due to its historical significance in international finance and its appearance in English-language reports and analyses of Brazil's economy during the 1980s.
The former currency unit of Brazil.
Cruzado is usually specialized / historical in register.
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Cruzado sounds like 'cruise ado' – imagine a cruise ship having a lot of 'ado' (trouble) exchanging their old Brazilian cruzado notes.
Conceptual Metaphor
MONEY IS A HISTORICAL ARTEFACT (e.g., 'The cruzado is a relic of Brazil's battle with inflation').
Practice
Quiz
In which context are you MOST likely to encounter the word 'cruzado' in modern English?