The brazillian probably borrowed from the american. I don't know how. We don't have anything similar to american pancakes in our culture. There is no such thin

The brazillian probably borrowed from the american. I don't know how. We don't have anything similar to american pancakes in our culture. There is no such thing. So, if anyone needs to say "pancake" in brazil, refering to american pancakes, they'll use the term "panqueca". Movies do this, Google Translate does it and most bi-lingual en-us+pt-BR people will recognize this. There's a well-estabilished linguistic relation between the two, despite any etymological root differences and despite the dishes being so different. Our word for cake is "bolo", and our word for pan is "panela", but "panela" means one specific kind of pan here. Thin pans (like the sort of pan you'd use to cook an egg) are often called "frigideiras" (there's a relation to frying there somewhere, not fridge). I guess "bolo de frigideira" just didn't made any sense to whomever popularized the translation over here (it really sounds weird, I totally understand why).