Where does “dente de leite” come from?

dente de leite (Portuguese) comes from Portuguese Leite, from Old Portuguese leite, from Vulgar Latin lactem, from Latin lác, from Proto-Indo-European ǵlákts — milk.

dente de leite (Portuguese): milk tooth tooth of the first set of teeth

Definitions

  1. milk tooth tooth of the first set of teeth

Ancestry of “dente de leite”, step by step

dente de leite traces back through two separate lines of ancestry.

via Portuguese Leite

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1PortugueseLeitemilk
2Old Portugueseleite—
3Vulgar Latinlactemfirst-person singular present active subjunctive...
4Latinlácmilk
5Proto-Indo-Europeanǵláktsmilk

via Portuguese dente

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Portuguesedentetooth; tooth; prong; tine; clove
2Old Portuguesedente—
3Latindēnsa tooth
Every word from Proto-Indo-European ǵlákts →Every word from Latin lác →Every word from Vulgar Latin lactem →