favela

the word 'favela' entered english directly from brazilian portuguese, where it denotes a specific type of informal settlement. its origin is toponymic, derived from 'morro da favela', a hill in rio de janeiro named after the 'favela' plant (cnidoscolus phyllacanthus), a shrub native to northeastern brazil. soldiers who camped on this hill after a war in the late 19th century, and later settled there, transferred the name to their makeshift housing. the term thus evolved from a plant name to a place name, and finally to a socio-urban category describing densely populated, informally built communities, entering english as a precise cultural loanword.

this word is a loanword from portuguese and is not productively segmented using english morphemes. its origin is traced to a specific brazilian portuguese place name.