foca

See also: FOCA, Foça, and focă

Catalan

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē)bor.?

Latin phōcabor.

Catalan foca

Borrowed from Latin phōca.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈfo.kə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [ˈfo.ka]

Noun

foca f (plural foques)

1. (mammals) seal

   Synonyms: llop marí m, llop de mar m, vell marí, serena

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• foca barbuda
• foca comuna
• foca grisa
• foca lleopard
• foca menjacrancs
• foca monjo

Further reading

• “foca”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], 2007 April

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔka/ [ˈfɔ.kɐ]
• Rhymes: -ɔka

Etymology 1

From foco (“hollow”).

Noun

foca f (plural focas)

1. hole, piercing

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

   • c. 1780, Anonymous, Cincuenta décimas contra Cernadas:

     Mordesme en Papeliños,
     que leeron moitas Xentes:
     mordes me, chantasme os dentes
     chantame agora os focinos:
     si lendo estes meus termiños
     fixères xestos, ou mocas,
     ê contra min te desuocas,
     ê con Mocas ques ferir me,
     e focas no Corpo abrirme,
     Chantame as mocas nas focas.

     You bite me in little papers
     that many people have read
     You bite me, thrust you teeth in me
     Thrust now your snout
     If reading these my terms
     You do gestures or grimaces
     and against me you run off at the mouth
     and with clubs you want to injure me
     and holes in my body open
     Thrust the clubs into my holes

Etymology 2

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē)bor.?

Latin phōcalbor.

Galician foca

Learned borrowing from Latin phōca f, from Ancient Greek φώκη f (phṓkē).

Noun

foca f (plural focas)

1. (mammals) seal

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

References

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “foca”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “foca”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “foca”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Italian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē)bor.?

Latin phōca?

Italian foca

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) Inherited from Latin phōca f, from Ancient Greek φώκη f (phṓkē).

Compare French phoque m.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔ.ka/
• Rhymes: -ɔka
• Hyphenation: fò‧ca

Noun

foca f (plural foche)

1. (mammals) seal

   Synonym: vecchio marino m

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• foca monaca f
• fochiera f

Further reading

• foca in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɔ.kɐ/

• Audio (South Brazil):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔkɐ
• Hyphenation: fo‧ca

Etymology 1

foca

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē)bor.?

Latin phōcalbor.?

Portuguese foca

Learned borrowing from Latin phōca f, from Ancient Greek φώκη f (phṓkē).

Alternative forms

• phoca (obsolete)

Noun

foca f (plural focas)

1. earless seal (any seal in the family Phocidae)

   Hypernym: pinípede

   Coordinate terms: leão-marinho, morsa

   Olha uma foca toda feliz, com uma bola no seu nariz!

   Look at this happy seal with a ball on its nose!

   • 1887 March 25, “Os vertebrados do ministerio”, in Correio da Manhã‎^[1], volume IV, number 703, Lisbon, page 2, column 3:

     Com fome, a hyenna uiva, o hippopotamo bufa, a phoca geme e os roedores chiam como uns damnados.

     When hungry, the hyena howls, the hippopotamus snorts, the seal groans and the rodents squeek like the damned.

Usage notes

• The gender of this Portuguese zoonym is always feminine: when the gender of the being itself must be specified, use “foca macho” for male, and “foca fêmea” for female. Here, macho is treated as an undeclinable noun and don't necessarily need to agree in gender with the referent, but would change to macha if so.

Related terms

• foca-anelada
• foca-caranguejeira
• foca-comum
• foca-da-gronelândia
• foca-leopardo
• foca-monge

Noun

foca m or f by sense (plural focas)

1. (Brazil, journalism) a journalist at the start of his/her career
   • 1989, Paulo Rangel, O Assassinato do Conto Policial, FTD, →ISBN, page 10:

     — Por falar nisso, sabe o que é um foca?
     — Sei — disse Cotoxó.
     — Que é? Diga!
     — Foca é um repórter em início de carreira, que ganha mal, se veste mal, come mal, escreve mal, só diz bobagens, não tem cultura, é tido como idiota e um dia se torna chefe da redação.

     “By the way, do you know what a seal is?”
     “Yes”, said Cotoxó.
     “What is it? Tell me!”
     “A seal is a reporter at the beginning of his career, who earns badly, dresses badly, eats badly, writes badly, says nothing but nonsense, has no culture, is considered an idiot and one day becomes head of the newsroom.”

2. an avaricious individual

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

foca

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

Further reading

• “foca”, in iDicionário Aulete (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2025
• “foca”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2025
• “foca”, in Dicionário infopédia da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Porto: Porto Editora, 2003–2025
• “foca”, in Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), São Paulo: Editora Melhoramentos, 2015–2025

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈfoka]

Noun

foca f

1. definite nominative/accusative singular of focă

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Spanish

La foca besó al capitán en la mejilla. ― The seal kissed the captain on the cheek.

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē)bor.?

Latin phōca?

Spanish foca

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) Inherited from Latin phōca, from Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfoka/ [ˈfo.ka]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Audio (Costa Rica):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -oka
• Syllabification: fo‧ca

Noun

foca f (plural focas)

1. seal (animal belonging to the parvorder Pinnipedia of semi-aquatic marine mammals)

   Synonyms: lobo marino, lobo del mar

   • 1621, Lope de Vega Carpio, “La Andromeda”, in La Filomena con otras diuerſas Rimas, Proſas y Verſos [The Filomena with Other Diverse Rhymes, Proses and Verses], Madrid: Francisca de Medina, page 106:

     Con fieras anſias, con mayor trabajo,
     La Foca ſepultaua la grandeza
     Del monſtruoſo cuerpo entre las olas,
     Si bien moſtraua ya las fuentes ſolas.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1932, M[iguel] Mihura, “Tres sombreros de copa”, in Tres sombreros de copa [Three Top Hats], Editora Nacional, published 1947, Act I:

     Estoy tan acostumbrado a bañarme en Noruega, que no puedo habituarme a estar en el agua sin tener un par de focas junto a mí.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (colloquial) whale (fat person)

   Sigue comiendo así y te vas a poner como un foca.

   If you keep eating like this you're going to become a fattie.

Derived terms

• como una foca
• foca anillada de Saimaa
• foca barbuda
• foca común
• foca de Groenlandia
• foca leopardo
• foca manchada
• foca moteada
• foca pía
• piel de foca f

Descendants

• → Tagalog: poka
• → Tetelcingo Nahuatl: foca

See also

• nerpa

Further reading

• “foca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10
• “foca”, in Diccionario histórico de la lengua española [Historical Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), Royal Spanish Academy, (Can we date this quote?)

Tetelcingo Nahuatl

Etymology

Etymology tree

Ancient Greek φώκη (phṓkē)bor.?

Latin phōca?

Spanish focabor.?

Tetelcingo Nahuatl foca

(Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?) Borrowed from Spanish foca.

Noun

foca (plural focas)

1. seal (animal)
   • 1964, Yulcöme [Animals]‎^[2], México, D.F.: El Instituto Lingüístico de Verano en cooperación con la Dirección General de Asuntos Indígenas de la Secretaría de Educación Pública, page 71:

     Ini foca nemi ipa Asia, Miexijco hua ipa Estado Unidos.

     The seal lives in Asia, Mexico and in the United States.