mentecato

Portuguese

Adjective

mentecato (feminine mentecata, masculine plural mentecatos, feminine plural mentecatas)

1. dated form of mentecapto

Noun

mentecato m (plural mentecatos, feminine mentecata, feminine plural mentecatas)

1. dated form of mentecapto

Spanish

Etymology

Semi-learned borrowing from Latin mente captus (literally “taken in the mind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /menteˈkato/ [mẽn̪.t̪eˈka.t̪o]
• Rhymes: -ato
• Syllabification: men‧te‧ca‧to

Adjective

mentecato (feminine mentecata, masculine plural mentecatos, feminine plural mentecatas)

1. crazy, insane, mad
2. half-witted, foolish

Further reading

• “mentecato”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025