The late football legend’s moniker, Pelé, is now formally associated with the words “exceptional, incomparable, and unique.”
One of the most widely used dictionaries in Brazil in Portuguese, Michaelis, has introduced “pelé” as a new adjective to its online version.
The inclusion followed the collection of more than 125,000 signatures in support of a campaign by the Pelé Foundation to honor the football legend.
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Age 82, Pelé passed away in December.
He is regarded as the greatest footballer in history because he is the only player to have won the World Cup three times.
He amassed a record 1,281 goals in his two-decade playing career with the New York Cosmos, Brazil’s national team, and Brazilian club Santos.
The Pelé Foundation, his former club Santos, sports network SporTV, and others have pushed for the football legend’s name to be recognized with its own article in the dictionary ever since his death from complications from colon cancer.
The phrase will be included to the printed version of Michaelis dictionaries’ Portuguese-language dictionary once the next edition is released, according to a statement made by the company’s publishers on Wednesday.
The entry reads: “pe.lé 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, a charitable organisation created to preserve the player’s legacy, said it was a fitting tribute to “the king”.
“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.