barco

See also: Barco and barĉo

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish barco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Central) [ˈbar.ku]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Northwestern) [ˈbar.ko]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈbaɾ.ko]

Noun

barco m (plural barcos)

1. (Castilianism, nautical) boat

   Synonyms: vaixell, barca, nau

Usage notes

• Not accepted in the normative dictionary of IEC, but it is in normative dictionary of AVL, anyway this word is the colloquial general usage everywhere.

Further reading

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “barco”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)
• “barco” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.

Chavacano

Etymology

Inherited from Spanish barco (“boat”).

Pronunciation

• (Zamboanga) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾko/ [ˈbaɾ.ko]
• Rhymes: -o, -ko
• Hyphenation: bar‧co

Noun

bárco

1. boat; ship

Galician

Etymology

Attested since the 10th century in Latin documents. From barca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾko/ [ˈbaɾ.kʊ]
• Rhymes: -aɾko
• Hyphenation: bar‧co

Noun

barco m (plural barcos)

1. ship

   Synonyms: embarcación, nave

2. boat
3. barge

   Synonyms: barca, barcaza, batuxo

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “barco”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• “barc-” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006-2016.
• Antón Santamarina, editor (2006–2013), “barco”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Santamarina, Ernesto X. González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “barco”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “barco”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Portuguese

barco

Etymology

Etymology tree

Egyptian bꜣjr

Demotic Egyptian br

Coptic ⲃⲁⲁⲣⲉ (baare)der.

Ancient Greek βᾶρῐς (bârĭs)der.

Latin bāris

Proto-Indo-European *-kos

Proto-Indo-European *-ikos

Proto-Italic *-ikos

Vulgar Latin -icusder.

Vulgar Latin -ica

Vulgar Latin *bārica

Late Latin barca

Old Galician-Portuguese barca

Portuguese barca

Portuguese barco

From barca (“barge”), from Old Galician-Portuguese barca, from Late Latin barca, syncope of Vulgar Latin *bārica, from Latin bāris + Vulgar Latin -ica.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʁ.ku/ [ˈbah.ku]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʁ.ku/ [ˈbah.ku]
  • (São Paulo) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾ.ku/
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /ˈbaʁ.ku/ [ˈbaχ.ku]
  • (Caipira) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɻ.ku/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾ.ku/

• (Northeast Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈbah.ku/

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bar‧co

Noun

barco m (plural barcos)

1. boat (water craft)

Usage notes

Barco refers to small- or mid-sized ships, as opposed to navio (a full-sized ship).

Related terms

• barca, embarcação, embarcar
• navio, nau, bote

Further reading

• “barco”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “barco”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Masculine of barca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbaɾko/ [ˈbaɾ.ko]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɾko
• Syllabification: bar‧co

Noun

barco m (plural barcos)

1. boat (usually with a concave hull)

   Hyponyms: balsa, barca, barcaza, bote, buque, chalupa, embarcación, lancha, nave, navío, velero

Derived terms

• barco de vapor
• barco dragón
• barco lanzatorpedos
• barco pesquero
• barco pirata
• escote barco

Related terms

• barcaza
• barquero
• barquilla
• barquillo
• embarcación
• embarcar

Descendants

• → Catalan: barco
• → Cebuano: barko
• → Morelos Nahuatl: barko
• → Tagalog: barko

Further reading

• “barco”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025