Portuguese-based creole languages meaning "in" and/or "on", which would come from the Portuguese contraction "na" meaning "in the" (feminine singular). The Portuguese word for "creole" is "crioulo", which derives from the verb "criar" ("to raise", "to bring up") and a suffix "-oulo" of debated origin. Originally the word was used to distinguish the members of any ethnic group who were born and raised in the colonies from those who were born in their homeland. In Africa it was often applied to locally born people of (wholly or partly) Portuguese descent, as opposed to those born in Portugal; whereas in Brazil it was also
Portuguese Africans from Portugal, namely from Madeira. Portuguese Africans Portuguese Africans () are Portuguese people born or permanently settled in Africa (they should not be confused with Portuguese of Black African ancestry). The largest Portuguese African population lives in Portugal numbering over 1 million with large and important minorities living in South Africa, Namibia and the Portuguese-speaking African countries (Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe).The descendants of the Portuguese settlers who were born and "raised" locally since Portuguese colonial time were called "crioulos". Much of the original population is unnumbered having been assimilated into Portugal, Brazil, and other