The Portuguese word for "creole" is crioulo, which derives from criar (to raise/bring up) and a suffix -oulo of debated origin. Since most of the African creole speakers had a Portuguese father and an African mother, they were raised (criados) by their African mother, not as slaves, and were servants in the house of their fathers. Thus the creole was left free to develop into a stable language. While the Africans were often deported to the Americas, the mixed raced were not. The African slaves were prohibited from speaking their own languages, which their masters did not understand. Instead, they were also instructed to speak a Portuguese pidgin.

In Portugal and the Portuguese speaking African countries, the word crioulo simply means the language. In Cape Verde it also means the ethnic group from Cape Verde. In these countries, it does not have the negative connotation it has in Brazil.

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