bloc

See also: Bloc and błoć

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French bloc (“group, block”), ultimately of Old Dutch origin, from Frankish or Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”). Doublet of block.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /blɒk/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /blɑk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒk
• Homophone: block

Noun

bloc (plural blocs)

1. A group of voters or politicians who share common goals.
   • 2020, Geoffrey Skelley, Nathaniel Rakich, “Two Special Elections On Tuesday Could Hint At Another Blue Wave In 2020”, in FiveThirtyEight:

     But a huge bloc of non-Hispanic white residents without bachelor’s degrees — 72 percent of the population age 25 or older — has turned the 7th District into Republican turf.

2. A group of countries acting together for political or economic goals, an alliance: e.g., the eastern bloc, the western bloc, a trading bloc, the Eurozone, the European Union.

   The ECB is considering three main options ... but two of them could hurt confidence in the bloc's most indebted states, ... (Reuters)

   Climate change a security risk for EU, say bloc's foreign policy chiefs (EUobserver)

   military bloc

Derived terms

• Atlantic bloc
• black bloc
• bloc chip
• bloc party
• Eastern Bloc
• padded bloc
• Soviet Bloc
• trade bloc

 

Translations

group of voters or politicians

• Arabic: كُتْلَة (ar) f (kutla)
• Armenian: բլոկ (hy) (blok), դաշինք (hy) (dašinkʻ), խմբավորում (hy) (xmbavorum)
• Bulgarian: групировка (bg) f (grupirovka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 集團／集团 (zh) (jítuán)

• Finnish: liittouma (fi), blokki (fi), ryhmittymä (fi)
• German: Block (de) m
• Italian: blocco (it) m
• Kyrgyz: блок (ky) m (blok) бирикме (ky) m (birikme)
• Norwegian: blokk (no) m
• Polish: blok (pl) m
• Portuguese: bloco (pt) m
• Russian: блок (ru) m (blok), группиро́вка (ru) f (gruppiróvka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бло̏к m

  Roman: blȍk (sh) m

• Spanish: bloque (es)
• Swedish: block (sv) n

group of countries

• Arabic: كُتْلَة (ar) f (kutla)
• Armenian: բլոկ (hy) (blok)
• Bulgarian: блок (bg) m (blok)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聯合／联合 (zh) (liánhé)

• Finnish: liittouma (fi), blokki (fi)
• French: bloc (fr) m
• German: Block (de) m
• Hebrew: גוש (he) m (gush)
• Italian: blocco (it) m
• Japanese: 連合 (ja) (れんごう, rengō)
• Korean: 연합 (ko) (yeonhap)
• Norwegian: blokk (no) m
• Persian: بلوک (fa) (blok)
• Polish: blok (pl) m
• Portuguese: bloco (pt) m
• Russian: блок (ru) m (blok)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бло̏к m

  Roman: blȍk (sh) m

• Spanish: bloque (es) m
• Swedish: block (sv) n

See also

• choc-a-bloc

Anagrams

• CLOB, LCBO

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencian) [ˈblɔk]

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French bloc.

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. block
2. pad, notebook
3. bloc

Derived terms

• bloc de cases
• bloc de dibuix
• bloc de notes
• bloc de paper
• bloc de pisos
• bloc motor
• bloc-diagrama
• en bloc

 

Related terms

• monobloc

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English blog.

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. Obsolete spelling of blog

Usage notes

• Recommend spelling (by TERMCAT) until 2013, when blog was accepted by the IEC.

Further reading

• “bloc” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “bloc”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “bloc” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “bloc” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “bloc” in termcat, Centre de Terminologia, 2024.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French bloc (“a considerable piece of something heavy, block”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Frankish or Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukką (“beam, log”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blɔk/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. a block (e.g., of wood)
2. a bloc, an alliance
3. a pad of paper
4. (computing) block (of memory, of code)

Derived terms

• à bloc
• bloc cardiaque
• bloc de béton
• bloc de départ
• bloc moteur
• bloc opératoire
• Bloc Québécois
• bloc-note
• commentaire en bloc
• en bloc
• faire bloc
• nier en bloc
• tout d’un bloc

 

Descendants

• → Asturian: bloque
• → Bulgarian: блок (blok)
• → Czech: bloc
• → English: bloc
• → Galician: bloque
• → Italian: bloc
• → Macedonian: блок (blok)
• → Norwegian: block
• → Persian: بلوک (blok)
• → Polish: blok
• → Portuguese: bloco
• → Romanian: bloc
• → Russian: блок (blok)
  • → Armenian: բլոկ (blok)
  • → Yakut: блок (blok)
• → Spanish: bloc, bloque
• → Turkish: blok

Further reading

• “bloc”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Irish

Etymology

Borrowed from English block or from a Romance language.

Noun

bloc m (genitive singular bloic, nominative plural bloic)

1. block

Declension

Declension of bloc

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative bloc bloic Vocative a bhloic a bhloca Genitive bloic bloc Dative bloc bloic

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an bloc na bloic Genitive an bhloic na mbloc Dative leis an mbloc don bhloc leis na bloic

Derived terms

• bloc fir m (“stocky man”)
• bloc-chlár m (“blockboard”)
• blocadóir m (“block-maker”)
• blocáil (“block”, verb)
• blocán m (“small block; stocky person; blockhead; coal-fish”)
• blocdhéanmhas m (“block structure”)
• blocléaráid f (“block diagram”)
• bloclitir f (“block letter”)
• blocphriontáil f (“(act of) blockprinting”)
• craosbhloc m (“breech-block”)
• cróbhloc m (“deadeye”)
• mítéarbhloc m (“mitre-block”)
• próisbhloc m (“process-block”)
• sclóinbhloc m (“swivel block”)
• tacabhloc m (“pillow-block”)
• V-bhloc m (“V-block”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
bloc	bhloc	mbloc
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “bloc”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “bloc”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French bloc, German Blockhaus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /blok/

Noun

bloc n (plural blocuri)

1. block (a big chunk of solid matter)

   Synonym: bucată

   bloc de gheață ― block of ice

2. a heap or an ensemble of objects of the same type that form a unity

   bloc de desen ― drawing block

3. apartment building (a big residential building with apartments)

   Synonym: (rare) blochaus

4. alliance, union (a coalition between different states, parties, groups etc. to achieve a common goal)

   Synonym: alianță

Declension

Declension of bloc

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) bloc	blocul	(niște) blocuri	blocurile
genitive/dative	(unui) bloc	blocului	(unor) blocuri	blocurilor
vocative	blocule		blocurilor

Derived terms

• în bloc
• bloc de desen
• bloc motor
• bloc cardiac
• bloc operator

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from French bloc. Doublet of block and bloque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblok/ [ˈblok]
• Rhymes: -ok
• Syllabification: bloc

Noun

bloc m (plural blocs)

1. pad (such as of paper)

Further reading

• “bloc”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014