hacha

Asturian

Noun

hacha f (plural haches)

1. axe (tool)

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Chamorro

Numeral

hacha

1. (Old Chamorro) one (in general)

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French

Verb

hacha

1. third-person singular past historic of hacher

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈat͡ʃa/

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French hache.

Noun

hacha f (plural hachas)

1. axe, hatchet (tool for felling trees or chopping wood)
2. (colloquial) ace, wizard (someone who is especially skilled or unusually talented in a particular field)

Usage notes

• The feminine noun hacha is like other feminine nouns starting with a stressed a sound in that it takes the definite article el (normally reserved for masculine nouns) in the singular when there is no intervening adjective:

el hacha

• However, if an adjective, even one that begins with a stressed a sound such as alta or ancha, intervenes between the article and the noun, the article reverts to la.

Descendants

• → Isthmus Mixe: achë
• → Morelos Nahuatl: acha
• → Rayón Zoque: jacha
• → Tezoatlán Mixtec: achá
• → Western Apache: acha
• → Zacatlán-Ahuacatlán-Tepetzintla Nahuatl: acha

Etymology 2

From older facha, from a Vulgar Latin *fascla, from syncopation of *fascula, presumably from a crossing of Latin facula and fascis. Doublet of fácula, a borrowing.

Noun

hacha f (plural hachas)

1. a kind of torch or large candle (often with four sticks)
2. a kind of wick or fuse (often made with esparto grass and tar), which does not go out easily in the wind
3. bundle of straw tied up like a strip and often used to help cover huts or other field constructions

Further reading

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