calva

See also: Calva

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkælvə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɑlvə/

Etymology 1

From Latin calva (“the scalp”).

Noun

calva (plural calvae)

1. (anatomy) The calvaria; the dome or roof of the skull.

   The excavation turned up one small femur, one broken calva, and one jawbone.

Further reading

• Calvaria (skull) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Etymology 2

A shortened form of calvados.

Noun

calva (countable and uncountable, plural calvas)

1. Calvados, an apple brandy made in France, or a glass of this brandy.
   • 2005, Fred Vargas, Have mercy on us all, page 140:

     "I believe you are already acquainted with Captain Le Guern. Please join us for a glass of calva."

Further reading

• Calvados (brandy) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• caval, clava

Asturian

Adjective

calva

1. feminine singular of calvu

Dutch

Etymology

Clipping of calvados, or directly from French calva.

Noun

calva m (plural calva's, diminutive calvaatje n)

1. synonym of calvados (“French apple brandy”)

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kal.va/

• Audio (Paris):

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Homophone: calvas

Noun

calva m (plural calvas)

1. calva; calvados

Further reading

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

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkal.va/
• Rhymes: -alva
• Hyphenation: càl‧va

Adjective

calva

1. feminine singular of calvo

Noun

calva f (plural calve)

1. female equivalent of calvo (“bald man”)

Anagrams

• clava, valca

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈkaɫ.wa]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈkal.va]

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *kl̥H-der.

Proto-Italic *kalVwos

Latin calvus

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂

Proto-Italic *-ā

Latin -a

Latin calva

From calvus + -a.

Noun

calva f (genitive calvae); first declension

1. the bald scalp of the head
2. skull

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	calva	calvae
genitive	calvae	calvārum
dative	calvae	calvīs
accusative	calvam	calvās
ablative	calvā	calvīs
vocative	calva	calvae

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

calva

1. inflection of calvus:
   1. nominative/vocative feminine singular
   2. nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

Adjective

calvā

1. ablative feminine singular of calvus

References

• “calva”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “calva”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “calva”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “calva”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 85

Portuguese

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkaw.vɐ/ [ˈkaʊ̯.vɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkaw.vɐ/ [ˈkaʊ̯.vɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈkaw.va/ [ˈkaʊ̯.va]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.vɐ/ [ˈkaɫ.vɐ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.vɐ/ [ˈkaɫ.vɐ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈkal.bɐ/ [ˈkaɫ.βɐ]

• Hyphenation: cal‧va
• Rhymes: -alvɐ, -awvɐ

Adjective

calva

1. feminine singular of calvo

Etymology 2

Verb

calva

1. inflection of calvar:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkalba/ [ˈkal.β̞a]
• Rhymes: -alba
• Syllabification: cal‧va

Noun

calva f (plural calvas)

1. bald patch (area of baldness)
2. an area on a hide or fabric from which the hair or pill has worn out
3. clearing (area of land within a wood or forest devoid of trees)
4. (games) a traditional shepherds’ sport played in parts of Spain, the object of which is to knock down a partially supported horn or piece of wood (the calva) by throwing stones at it. In a modern version the stones have been substituted with metal cylinders (the marro) and horns are no longer used as targets
5. (games) the wooden target used in the game of calva

Adjective

calva

1. feminine singular of calvo

Further reading

• “calvo”, 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
• calva on Wikipedia.Wikipedia