Brazilian football legend ‘Pele’ has been added to the Portuguese dictionary as an adjective to denote someone ‘out of the usual.’
The declaration by the Michaelis Lexicon was part of a campaign that amassed more than 125,000 signatures to recognize his effect outside of football.
Brazil legend Pele has been introduced to the Portuguese lexicon to describe someone.
For the world’s 265 million Portuguese speakers, ‘pele’ can now be used to signify something or someone outstanding, as it is currently used informally in Brazil.
The word is described as “exceptional, incomparable, and unique” in the new entry, attributes associated with football’s “King.”
After a battle with colon cancer, the three-time World Cup winner died in December at the age of 82.
‘The one who is outstanding, or who cannot be equaled to anything or anybody, just as Pele; nickname of Edson Arantes do Nascimento (1940-2022), regarded the greatest athlete of all time; exceptional, incomparable, unique,’ according to the dictionary entry.
‘Examples: He is the Pele of basketball, she is the Pele of tennis, she is the Pele of Brazilian theater, and he is the Pele of medicine.’
The Pele Foundation, Santos FC, where he spent the majority of his career, and many Brazilians applauded the move by the producers of one of the country’s most popular dictionaries.
‘The expression that was already used to refer to the finest at anything is already eternal in the pages of the dictionary,’ Pele’s social media outlets wrote after the announcement.
‘We made history together by translating the name of the King of Soccer into Portuguese. Pele is Hawaiian for “THE BEST.”
‘The Pele campaign in the dictionary is one of the most innovative in which we have ever participated,’ said Joe Fraga, executive director of the Pele Foundation.
‘His name in the lexicon is a very essential aspect of his legacy that will keep Pele alive forever.’
Pele set a global record with 1,281 goals while playing for Santos (1956–74), the Brazilian national team, and the New York Cosmos (1975–77).
