cerca

See also: cercá, cercà, and çerca

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin circa.

Adverb

cerca

1. near

---

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛɾ.kə/
• (Central) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛr.kə/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛɾ.ka/

Etymology 1

Deverbal of cercar.

Noun

cerca f (plural cerques)

1. search

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cerca

1. third-person singular present indicative form of cercar
2. second-person singular imperative form of cercar

Further reading

• “cerca” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “cerca” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

---

Galician

Etymology 1

14th century. Probably a back-formation from Old Galician and Old Portuguese cercar (“to wall; to enclose”), from Late Latin circāre, present active infinitive of circō; or from a Vulgar Latin circa (compare Spanish cerca, northern Italian cerca, French cerce), from the feminine of Latin circus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈθeɾka̝/, (western) /ˈseɾka̝/

Noun

cerca f (plural cercas)

1. fence; enclosure

   Synonyms: cercado, peche, valado

2. (dated) wall

   Synonyms: muralla, muro

3. siege

   Synonyms: asedio, cerco

Derived terms

• Cerca

Related terms

• cerco
• cercado

Etymology 2

From Latin circa.

Preposition

cerca

1. near

   Synonym: preto

Derived terms

• acerca de
• cerca de

References

• “cerca” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2012.
• “cerca” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2016.
• “cerca” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “cerca” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “cerca” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

---

Indonesian

Etymology

From Malay cerca, from Sanskrit चर्चा (carcā, “discussion, talk, inquiry, trouble”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃər.t͡ʃa/
• Hyphenation: cêr‧ca

Noun

cêrca

1. insult, scorn

Derived terms

• cercaan
• mencerca
• mencercai
• secerca

 

Further reading

• “cerca” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

---

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃer.ka/
• Rhymes: -erka
• Hyphenation: cér‧ca

Etymology 1

From cercare.

Noun

cerca f (plural cerche)

1. search

   Synonym: ricerca

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cerca

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

Further reading

• cerca in Collins Italian-English Dictionary
• cerca in Aldo Gabrielli, Grandi Dizionario Italiano (Hoepli)
• cerca in garzantilinguistica.it – Garzanti Linguistica, De Agostini Scuola Spa
• cerca in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• cerca in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Anagrams

• crace

---

Old Irish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʲerka/

Noun

cerca

1. nominative and vocative and accusative plural of cerc

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
cerca	cherca	cerca pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

---

Portuguese

cerca

Etymology 1

From cercar (“surround”), or from Old Portuguese cerca (“surround”), from a Vulgar Latin *circa (compare Spanish cerca, northern Italian cerca, French cerce), from the feminine of Latin circus.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˈseʁ.kɐ/, [ˈseh.kɐ]

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˈseʁ.kɐ/, [ˈseh.kɐ]
  • IPA^(key): (São Paulo) /ˈseɾ.kɐ/, [ˈseɾ.kɐ]
  • IPA^(key): (Rio de Janeiro) /ˈseʁ.kɐ/, [ˈseχ.kɐ]

• IPA^(key): (Portugal) /ˈseɾ.kɐ/, [ˈseɾ.kɐ]

• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈseɻ.ka/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈseɾ.kɐ/
• Hyphenation: cer‧ca

Noun

cerca f (plural cercas)

1. fence (barrier)

   Synonyms: sebe, cercadura, grade

Related terms

• cercania
• cerco

Derived terms

• cerquilha

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˌsɛʁ.kɐ/, [ˌsɛh.kɐ]

• IPA^(key): (Brazil) /ˌsɛʁ.kɐ/, [ˌsɛh.kɐ]
  • IPA^(key): (São Paulo) /ˌsɛɾ.kɐ/, [ˌsɛɾ.kɐ]
  • IPA^(key): (Rio de Janeiro) /ˌsɛʁ.kɐ/, [ˌsɛχ.kɐ]

• IPA^(key): (Portugal) /ˌsɛɾ.kɐ/, [ˌsɛɾ.kɐ]

• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈsɛɻ.ka/
• Hyphenation: cer‧ca

Verb

cerca

1. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present indicative of cercar
2. second-person singular (tu, sometimes used with você) affirmative imperative of cercar

Related terms

• cercado

Etymology 3

From Latin circa.

Preposition

cerca

1. around, approximately (followed by de)

Derived terms

• cerca de

Further reading

• “cerca” in iDicionário Aulete.
• “cerca” in Dicionário inFormal.
• “cerca” in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa. Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2022.
• “cerca” in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa.
• “cerca” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

---

Romanian

Etymology

From Late Latin circāre, present active infinitive of circō, from Latin circa, circus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃerˈka/

Verb

a cerca (third-person singular present cearcă, past participle cercat) 1st conj. (archaic)

1. to examine, inspect, analyze, study
2. to search, ask, take interest in

Conjugation

    conjugation of cerca (first conjugation, no infix)

infinitive			a cerca
gerund			cercând
past participle			cercat
number		singular			plural
person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
indicative		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	cerc	cerci	cearcă	cercăm	cercați	cearcă
	imperfect	cercam	cercai	cerca	cercam	cercați	cercau
	simple perfect	cercai	cercași	cercă	cercarăm	cercarăți	cercară
	pluperfect	cercasem	cercaseși	cercase	cercaserăm	cercaserăți	cercaseră
subjunctive		eu	tu	el/ea	noi	voi	ei/ele
	present	să cerc	să cerci	să cerce	să cercăm	să cercați	să cerce
imperative		—	tu	—	—	voi	—
	affirmative		cearcă			cercați
	negative		nu cerca			nu cercați

Synonyms

• cerceta, căuta, examina, analiza, studia

Derived terms

• cercare
• cercător

Related terms

• cerc
• cerceta
• încerca

 

---

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /ˈθeɾka/, [ˈθeɾ.ka]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America) /ˈseɾka/, [ˈseɾ.ka]
• Hyphenation: cer‧ca

• Audio (Latin America)

  (file)

Etymology 1

From Latin circa (“around”) (whence also English circa), from earlier Latin circum.

Adverb

cerca (superlative cerquísima)

1. close, near, around, about, nearly, nigh (referring to quantity or time-related)
2. close, near, around, nigh, at hand, close at hand, in sight (spatially)
3. nearby, close by

Antonyms

• lejos

Derived terms

• acerca
• acercar
• cerca de
• cercanía
• cercano
• cerquita
• de cerca
• de cerca (“closely, close up, at close quarters; first-hand”)
• más de cerca (“more closely”)
• tocar de cerca (“to hit close to home, to be close to one's heart”)
• ver de cerca (“to see up close”)

 

Etymology 2

From cercar, or from Old Spanish cerca, from a Vulgar Latin *circa (compare Portuguese cerca, northern Italian cerca, French cerce), from the feminine of Latin circus.

Noun

cerca f (plural cercas)

1. fence (a thin artificial barrier that separates two pieces of land or a house perimeter)

   Synonyms: valla, verja

2. stone wall

   Synonym: (Mexico) barda

Related terms

• cercar
• cerco

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cerca

1. Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of cercar.
2. Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of cercar.
3. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present indicative form of cercar.

Further reading

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