“Pelé”, the nickname of legendary Brazilian footballer Edson Arantes do Nascimento, has now officially become a synonymous term for “unique, exceptional, incomparable”.
Michaelis dictionary, which is one of the standard dictionaries for the Portuguese Language, globally has inducted “pelé” as an adjective to its online edition. The inclusion happened after a successful campaign by the Pele Foundation to honour the sporting legend.
Pelé died last year in December at the age of 82.
Pelé is the only player to have won 3 World Cup titles, remembered and considered by many as the greatest footballer of all time. Pelé had an illustrated career of two decades, in which he scored over 1,281 goals for his clubs Santos, New York Cosmos and the Brazilian national team.
After Pelé’s death, his former club Santos, sports channel Sportv and Pelé Foundation promoted this campaign to honour and recognize the legacy of the Brazilian great with its inclusion in the dictionary.
The publishers of Michaelis dictionaries have included the word in their online edition and have confirmed that they will induct the term in the next edition of their printed version.
The term explained: “pelé adj. That or someone who is out of the ordinary, who or who by virtue of their quality, value or superiority cannot be equalled to anything or anyone, just like Pelé, nickname of Edson Arantes do Nascimento (1940-2022), who is considered the greatest athlete of all time; exceptional, incomparable, unique.”
The Pelé Foundation, acknowledged the induction and called it an appropriate tribute to the sporting legends’ legacy.
“The expression already used to refer to someone who is the best at what they do has been [made eternal] on the pages of the dictionary!,” it tweeted.