sozinho

• sòzinho (pre-reform spelling)
• sózinho, sósinho, sosinho (pre-standardization spelling)

From só (“alone”) +‎ -zinho (forms certain augmentatives).

• Rhymes: -iɲu, (Brazil) -ĩɲu
• Hyphenation: so‧zi‧nho

sozinho (feminine sozinha, masculine plural sozinhos, feminine plural sozinhas)

1. alone; by oneself; on one's own
   • 1846, Gonçalves Dias, “Canção do exilio [The song of exile]”, in Primeiros cantos: peosias, 1st edition, Rio de Janeiro: Typographia Universal de Laemmert, page 10:

     Em scismar — sósinho — á noite — / Mais prazer encontro eu lá; / Minha terra tem palmeiras, / Onde canta o Sabiá.

     When ruminating — alone — at night — / I find more pleasure there; / My land has palm trees, / where the Thrush sings.

   • 1880, Maria Amalia Vaz de Carvalho, “Uma história verdadeira [A true story]”, in Contos e phantasias [Short stories and fantasies]‎^[1], 2nd edition, Lisbon: Parceria Antonio Maria Pereira, published 1905, page 23:

     O marquez tinha ido sósinho para França. Fôra, ao que se dizia, buscar a filha ao Sacré-Cœur.

     The marquess had gone to France alone. He’d gone, supposedly, to fetch his daughter from the Sacré-Cœur.

   • 1900, Eça de Queiroz, chapter V, in A illustre Casa de Ramires‎^[2], 1st edition, Porto: Livraria Chardron, page 239:

     — Ai! volto, volto... Não posso deixar sózinha a mãe do meu homem, que tem oitenta annos e está entrevada.

     “Oh! I’ll go back, yes... I can’t leave my man’s mother, who’s eighty years old and paralysed, by herself.

   • 1930 March 15, “Os interesses do Brasil sacrificados pelas agitações estereis [Brazil’s interests sacrificed by uselees commotion]”, in A Noite, volume XX, number 6583, Rio de Janeiro, page 1:

     No momento actual, não era possivel ao Brasil vencer sosinho as suas difficuldades financeiras, nem lhe será possivel.

     Currently, it was not possible for Brazil to overcome its financial difficulties by itself, nor will it be possible.

   • 1938, Graciliano Ramos, “O mundo coberto de pennas [The world covered in feathers]”, in Vidas Seccas [Barren Lives], Rio de Janeiro: Livraria José Olympio Editora, page 174:

     Impossivel dar cabo daquella praga. Estirou os olhos pela campina, achou-se isolado. Sózinho num mundo coberto de pennas, de aves queriam comel-o.

     It was impossible to put an end to that pest. He looked over the plains, found himself isolated. Alone in a world covered in feathers, in birds that sought to eat him.

   • 1969, Caetano Veloso, “Objeto Não Identificado”, in Caetano Veloso, Philips Records:

     Uma canção dizendo tudo a ela / Que ainda estou sozinho, apaixonado

     A song telling her everything / That I’m still lonely, in love

   • 1971, Jards Macalé, Duda Machado, “Hotel das Estrelas”, in Legal, performed by Gal Costa, PolyGram:

     Dessa janela, sozinha / Olhar a cidade me acalma

     Alone, from this windowsill / Looking at the city puts me at ease

Originally an augmentative of só, it is modernly the word more frequently used for the meaning of “alone”; conversely, the use of só with such meaning has become somewhat poetic or unusually formal.

sozinho

1. (rare, nonstandard) alone; by oneself; on one's own

   Synonyms: (now poetic) só, (rare, nonstandard) sozinhamente

   • 2015 June 12, Kássia Mota de Sousa, Por onde andou nossa família: veredas e narrativas da história de famílias afrodescendentes no pós-abolição [Where our family has been: paths and narratives of Afrodescendant families after the abolition of slavery]‎^[3] (doctoral dissertation), Fortaleza: Federal University of Ceará, Anexo II — Conversa registrada na tarde de 14 de agosto de 2013 [Annex II — Conversation recorded on the afternoon of August 14, 2013]:

     Entrevistadora – mas Tia, más essa sua tia era ruim.
     Entrevistada – era criatura, era ruim. Nunca pariu ninguém, num sabia a dor dum filho né?
     Entrevistadora – ela ficou sozinho o resto da vida com o marido?
     Entrevistada – num sabia a dor dum filho que nunca pariu.

     Interviewer — But Auntie, that aunt of yours was bad.
     Interviewee — Yes, she was, she was bad. She never gave birth to anyone or knew the pain of a child, did she?
     Interviewer — Was she alone with her husband for the rest of her life?
     Interviewee — She didn't know the pain of a child she never gave birth to.

   • 2017 August 9, “Adolescente de 14 anos some após ser vista entrando em carro em MT [14-year-old girl disappears after being seen getting into a car in Mato Grosso]”, in G1‎^[4], Mato Grosso:

     Geany estava acompanhada de duas amigas que a deixaram na esquina da escola e então ela entou^[sic] sozinho em um veículo de cor branca.

     Geany was accompanied by two friends who dropped her off at the corner of the school and then she got into a white vehicle on her own.

   • 2018 June 23, AFP, “Scorpions, um pouco de doçura em um mundo brutal [Scorpions, a little sweetness in a brutal world]”, in Istoé‎^[5]:

     Existe alguma mulher por trás da música?
     “Ah, ah!”, responde o cantor, rindo. “Na verdade, um dia estava passeando, estava nevando, era… romântico. E a letra veio sozinho. Fui correndo para casa para escrevê-la. Por fim, consegui a letra que estava procurando há cinco anos, quando nosso guitarrista Rudolf Schenker compôs a melodia”. “Bem, tenho que admitir: minha namorada estava me esperando em casa”.

     Is there a woman behind the song?
     “Ah, ah!” replies the singer, laughing. “Actually, one day I was out walking, it was snowing, it was... romantic. And the lyrics came by themselves. I ran home to write them down. Finally, I got the lyrics I'd been looking for for five years, when our guitarist Rudolf Schenker composed the melody.” “Well, I have to admit: my girlfriend was waiting for me at home.”