boccale

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian boccale. Doublet of bocal and pokal.

Noun

boccale (plural boccales or boccali)

1. (historical) A unit of volume formerly used in Italy, varying by region.
   • 2025 July 10, Lowis D'Aguilar Jackson, Modern Metrology. A Manual of the Metrical Units and Systems of the Present Century with an Apendix Containing a Proposed English System‎^[1], BoD – Books on Demand, →ISBN, page 146:

     Proceeding to the small commercial liquid-measures devised to meet convenience in the retail sale of liquids, ale, beer, wine, oil, and honey, there is a marked accordance among the whole of the quarts, pots, mass, and crushka of Northern Europe, and the boccale and bozze of Southern Europe; […]

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bokˈka.le/
• Rhymes: -ale
• Hyphenation: boc‧cà‧le

Etymology 1

bocca (“mouth”) +‎ -ale (“-al”, relational adjective suffix)

Adjective

boccale m or f by sense (plural boccali)

1. oral, mouth (attributive)

Related terms

• buccale

Etymology 2

From a crossing of bocca (“mouth”) with Late Latin baucālis, from Koine Greek βαύκαλις (baúkalis, “container used for the cooling of wine”); probably of Berber or Egyptian origin. Compare Sicilian bucali, not influenced by vucca.

Noun

boccale m (plural boccali)

1. a serving vessel:
   1. jug
   2. stein
2. a quantity of liquid held by such a vessel:
   1. jugful
   2. steinful
3. (historical) a unit of measure for volume used in Italy, with different values according to the area
4. (northern Italy) urinal

Descendants

• → Middle Dutch: bocael
  • Dutch: bokaal
• → French: bocal
  • → English: bocal
  • Haitian Creole: bokal
• → German: Pokal (see there for further descendants)
• → Greek: μπουκάλι (boukáli)
• → Hungarian: bokály
• → Ottoman Turkish: پوتقال
  • Turkish: potkal

References

• “boccale¹”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026
• “boccale²”, in Vocabolario Treccani on line (in Italian), Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2026