http://www.babylon.com/definition/Return_on_Equity/Portugues...

equity=patrimônio líquido.

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Note added at 1 day3 hrs (2009-01-25 19:58:16 GMT) Post-grading
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EQUITY
A company's ASSETS, LESS its LIABILITIES.
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PATRIMÔNIO LÍQUIDO=Patrimônio resultante da DIFERENÇA entre os valores coponentes do ATIVO e das DÍVIDAS da empresa.
"P. líquido, quando a soma dos valores ativos seja SUPERIOR à dos valores passivos." Vincenzo Masi, Regioneria Generale, p. 61, 3ª ed., apud. Lopes de Sá`, Dic. de Contabilidade, Atlas, 8ª ed, São Paulo, SP, 1993.
CAPITAL PRÓPRIO=CAPITAL LÍQUIDO=Capital social ou nominal (titulo de conta q. representa o valor do cap. registrado na Junta Comercial), constituído pelas reservas (valor posto de parte p/ q/ possa garantir o giro de cap.), fundos (quota extraída do lucro bruto das emp. e q. tem a finalidade de representar uma reintegração de valores ou uma proteção contra riscos), provisões (parcela extraída dos resultados da empresa ou de seus meios financeiros, p/ cobrir despesas q. devem ser feitas ou desniveis de caixa.) e lucros suapensos(resultado positivo (lucro) q., ñ tendo sido distribuído aos sócios, permanece como reserva do capital, transferindo-se p/ outro exercício) op. cit.
EQUITY="Termo m Inglês q. sig. a DIFERENÇA entre o valor de uma propriedade e todas as demandas q. existam contra ela." Novíssimo Dic. de Economia, P. Sandroni, 8ª ed., Best Seller, São Paulo, SP, 2002.
EQUITY=Patrimônio, patrimônio líquido". Dic. Termos de Negócios, Pinho et al., Atlas, 2ª ed., São Paulo, SP, 1997.
EQUITY= "Excedente do ativo s. o passivo." Cavalcante, Dic. Ing/Port. de termos econômicos e comerciais, Vozes, Petrópolis, RJ, s.d.
EQUITY CAPITAL=cap. social; patrimônio; participação acionária; cap. em ações."Idem.
EQUITY, also HOME EQUITY= "THE VALUE OF A PROPERTY AFTER ALL DEBTS HAVE BEEN PAID.", OXFORD DIC. BUSINESS ENG., OXFORD, lONDON, 2008.




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Note added at 1 day4 hrs (2009-01-25 20:54:23 GMT) Post-grading
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Ownership equity, the value of an ownership interest in property
Shareholders' equity, the owners' residual interest in the assets of an enterprise after deducting all its liabilities

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Note added at 1 day5 hrs (2009-01-25 21:16:33 GMT) Post-grading
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In accounting terms, after all liabilities are paid, ownership equity is the remaining interest in assets. If valuations placed on assets do not exceed liabilities, negative equity exists.
Shareholders' equity (or stockholders' equity, shareholders' funds, shareholders' capital employed) is this interest in remaining assets, spread among individual shareholders of common or preferred stock.
At the start of a business, owners put some funding into the business to finance assets. Businesses can be considered to be, for accounting purposes, sums of liabilities and assets; this is the accounting equation. After liabilities have been accounted for, the positive remainder is deemed the owner's interest in the business.
This definition is helpful when a business is not paying its bills and gets liquidated, wound up, put into receivership or bankruptcy. Then, a series of creditors, ranked in priority sequence, have the first claim on the proceeds (e.g. asset sales), and ownership equity is the last or residual claim against assets, paid only after all other creditors are paid. In such a case, creditors may not get enough money to pay their bills, and nothing is left over to reimburse owners' equity. Thus owners' equity is reduced to zero. Ownership equity is also known as risk capital, liable capital and equity.