navaja

Spanish

Pequeña navaja-llavero

Alternative forms

• nabaja (obsolete)

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *navācla, from Latin novācula (“razor”), from Proto-Italic *(ks)nowātlā. Compare Portuguese navalha, Galician navalla.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /naˈbaxa/ [naˈβ̞a.xa]
  • Rhymes: -axa
• IPA^(key): /naˈbaʃa/ [naˈβ̞a.ʃa] (Early Modern Spanish)
  • Rhymes: -aʃa
• Syllabification: na‧va‧ja

Noun

navaja f (plural navajas)

1. razor
2. pocketknife, penknife, jackknife
   • 2021 April 26, Paula Chouza, Patricia Ortega Dolz, “La ministra Reyes Maroto recibe una carta con una navaja aparentemente ensangrentada”, in El País‎^[1], retrieved 26 April 2021:

     El Ministerio de Industria ha recibido una carta dirigida a su titular, Reyes Maroto, con una navaja aparentemente ensangrentada, según ha confirmado este lunes el Ministerio del Interior.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

3. razor shell, razor clam (edible clam of genus Ensis)

Derived terms

• navaja de afeitar
• navajuela
• peine navaja

Descendants

• → Tagalog: labaha, nabasa, labasa

Noun

navaja f (plural navajas)

1. female equivalent of navajo

Adjective

navaja f

1. feminine singular of navajo

Further reading

• “navaja”, 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
• navaja on the Spanish Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^es