cavalo

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

From Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”), from Gaulish caballos.

Pronunciation

• (Galicia) IPA^(key): /ka.ˈβa.lo/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ka.ˈβa.lʊ/

Noun

cavalo m

1. horse
   • 13th century CE, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, E codex, cantiga 213 (facsimile):

     caeu con el o Caualo

     The buceta fell with him

Descendants

• Galician: cabalo
• Portuguese: cavalo (see there for further descendants)

Portuguese

cavalo (Equus ferus caballus)

Alternative forms

• cavallo (obsolete)
• vacalo (obsolete, humorous)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese cavalo, from Late Latin caballus (“horse”), from Latin caballus (“pack horse”), from Gaulish *kaballos, from Proto-Celtic *kaballos, perhaps ultimately an Asiatic borrowing or Wanderwort, compare Ancient Greek καβάλλης (kabállēs, “nag”), Proto-Slavic *kobýla (“mare”), Persian کول (kaval, “second class horse of mixed blood”), and possibly Karakhanid kevel (at) (“well-bred fast (horse)”). Cognate with Galician cabalo, Spanish caballo, Catalan cavall, Occitan caval, French cheval, Italian cavallo and Romanian cal.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈva.lu/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈva.lu/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /kaˈva.lo/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈva.lu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈva.lu/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /kɐˈba.lu/ [kɐˈβa.lu]

• Rhymes: -alu
• Hyphenation: ca‧va‧lo

Noun

cavalo m (plural cavalos, feminine égua, feminine plural éguas)

1. horse (an equid)
2. (figuratively) a coarse, rude man
3. (chess) knight
4. (slang) heroin
5. (automotive) horsepower (a unit that measures the power of an engine)

   motor de 172 cavalos

   172-horsepower engine

Derived terms

• cavala
• cavalo de Troia
• cavalo-marinho
• tirar o cavalo da chuva

 

Related terms

• anticavalo
• cabalino
• cavalar
• cavalaria
• cavalariano
• cavaleiro
• cavalete
• cavalgada
• cavalgar
• cavalhada
• cavalheiro

 

Descendants

• Papiamentu: kabai
• → Old Tupi: kabaru

See also

• equitação
• estábulo
• hipismo

 

Spanish

Verb

cavalo

1. second-person singular voseo imperative of cavar combined with lo