Macanese Portuguese is spoken, to some degree either natively or as a second language, by roughly 2.3%[2] of the population of Macau.

Macau had its first contact with the Portuguese language in 1557 when the territory was established as a trade center of Portugal to other parts of Asia.

Macau was transferred sovereignty from Portugal to People's Republic of China in 1999, but Portuguese remained an official language.

Although Portuguese use was in decline in Asia in the early 21st century after Macau was ceded to China in 1999, there has been an increase in the teaching of Portuguese, mostly due to East Timor's (closest Portuguese-speaking country to Macau) boost in the number of speakers in the last five years, but also the Chinese authorities' protection of Portuguese as an official language in Macau, owing to the growing trade links between China and lusophone nations such as Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, and East Timor, with 5,000 students learning the language.

comer 'to eat', dormir 'to sleep, but not mar 'sea'), as in African Portuguese and most Brazilian speakers, and [ʒ] is devoiced to [ʃ], a trait almost unique to Macau.